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Christ Teaching in the Synagogue From Alexander Bida. 



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SUBSCRIPTION EDITION 



POPULAR COMMENTARY 



THE GOSPELS 



ACCORDING TO 



Matthew and Mark 



FOR FAMILY USE AND REFERENCE. 



By Rev. LYMAN ABBOTT, 

Author of " Life of Christ," " Dictionary of Religious Knowledge," etc. 



ACCOMF-A-NIIED WITH MAPS ANX) ILLTJSXRA.TIOjNTS. 



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A. S. BARNES & COMPANY, 

NEW YORK, CHICAGO AND NEW ORLEANS. 
1876. 

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by 

A . S . BARNES & CO., 

la the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



PREFACE. 

THE object of this Commentary is to aid in their Christian work those 
who are endeavoring to promote the knowledge of the principles 
which Jesus Christ came to propound and establish — clergymen, Christian 
parents, Sunday-School teachers, Bible-women, lay-preachers. Intended 
for Christian workers, it aims to give the results rather than the processes 
of scholarship, the conclusions rather than the controversies of scholars ; 
intended for laymen as well as for clergymen, it accompanies the English 
version of the New Testament, in all references to the original Greek gives 
the English equivalent, and translates all quotations from the French, 
German, Latin and Greek authors. 

The introduction on pages 31-34, contains a statement of those 
principles of interpretation which appear to me to be essential to the correct 
understanding of the Word of God. This Commentary is the result of a 
conscientious endeavor to apply those principles to the elucidation of the 
New Testament. 

It is founded on a careful examination of the latest and best text ; such 
variations as are of practical or doctrinal importance are indicated in the 
notes. It is founded on the original Greek ; wherever that is inadequately 
rendered in our English version, a new translation is afforded by the notes. 
The general purpose of the writer or speaker, and the general scope of the 
incident or teaching, is indicated in a Preliminary Note to the passage, or 
in an analysis, a paraphrase, or a general summary at the close. Special 
topics, such as The Baptism, The Temptation, The Trial, and The 
Crucifixion of Jesus are treated separately in preliminary or supplementary 
notes. This volume contains thirty such excursus. The results of recent 
researches in Biblical archaeology have been embodied, so as to make 
the Commentary serve in part the purpose of a Bible Dictionary. A free 
use is made of illustrations, from antiques, photographs, original drawings, 
and other trustworthy sources. They are never employed for mere 
ornament, but always to aid in depicting the life of Palestine, which 
remains in many respects substantially unchanged by the lapse of time. 
Since the Commentary is prepared, not for devotional reading, but for 
practical workers, little space has been devoted to hortatory remarks or 
practical or spiritual reflections. But I have uniformly sought to interpret 
the letter by the spirit, and to suggest rather than to supply moral and 
spiritual reflections, a paragraph of hints is affixed to each section or topic, 
embodying what appears to me to be the essential religious lessons of the 



VI PREFACE. 



incident or the teaching ; sometimes a note is appended elucidating 
them more fully. The best thoughts of the best thinkers, both exegetical 
and homiletical, are freely quoted, especially such as are not likely to be 
accessible to most American readers ; in all such cases the thought is 
credited to the author. Parallel and contrasted passages of Scripture are 
brought together in the notes ; in addition, full Scripture references are 
appended to the text. These are taken substantially from Bagster's large 
edition of the English version of the Polyglot Bible, but they have been 
carefully examined and verified in preparing for the press, and some 
modifications have been made. For the convenience of that large class of 
Christian workers who are limited in their means, I have endeavored to 
make this Commentary, as far as practicable, a complete apparatus for the 
study of the New Testament. When finished it will be fully furnished 
with maps ; — there are four in this volume ; a Gazetteer gives a condensed 
account of all the principal places in Palestine, mentioned in our Lord's 
life ; and an introduction traces the history of the New Testament from 
the days of Christ to the present, giving some account of the evidence and 
nature of inspiration, the growth of the canon, the character and history 
of the manuscripts, the English version, the nature of the Gospels and 
their relation to each other, a brief life of Christ, and a complete tabular 
harmony of the four Gospels. 

The want of all who use the Bible in Christian work is the same. The 
wish is often for a demonstration that the Scripture sustains the reader's 
peculiar theological tenets, but the want is always for a clearer and better 
knowledge of Scripture teaching, whether it sanctions or overturns previous 
opinions. I am not conscious that this work is written in the interest of 
any theological or ecclesiastical system. In those cases in which the best 
scholars are disagreed in their interpretation, the different views and the 
reasons which lead me to my own conclusions have been given, I trust, in 
no controversial spirit. For the sole object of this work is to ascertain 
and make clear the meaning of the Word of God, irrespective of systems, 
whether ecclesiastical or doctrinal. 

No work is more delightful than that which throws us into fellowship 
with great minds ; of all work the most delightful is that which brings us 
into association with the mind of God. This is the fellowship to which the 
student of the Bible aspires. I can have for those who use this work no 
higher hope than that they may find in its employment some of the happi- 
ness which I have found in its preparation, and that it may serve them as 
it has served me, as a guide to the Word of God, and through that Word 
to a better acquaintance with God himself. 

CORNWALL-ON-HUDSON, May, 1875. LYMAN ABBOTT. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE 

Nature of the New Testament 11 

Origin and Authority 13 

Evidences of Inspiration 14 

Limits of Inspiration 16 

New Testament Canon 17 

The Text 25 

Our English Version 28 

Principles of Interpretation 31 

Relation of the Gospels to each other 34 

Origin of the Gospels 36 

Harmony of the Gospels 38 

Life of Christ 40 

Tabular Harmony of the Gospels 44 



THE GOSPEL OP MATTHEW. 

Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew 49 

Map of Palestine 50 

Gazetteer 51 

Supplementary Notes in Matthew — 

Names of Jesus 57 

Birth of Jesus 64 

Baptism of Jesus 72 

Temptation of Jesus 77 

The Sermon on the Mount 83 

Christ's Principles respecting Retaliation 96 

Christ's Teaching respecting Care 108 

Judging our Fellow-men 109 

Demoniacal Possession 123 

The Publicans 126 



V1U TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Twelve Apostles : Their Lives and Character 147 

John's Embassy to Jesus 152 

Brethren of our Lord 187 

The Foundation op Christ's Church 201 

Lessons op the Transfiguration 210 

Christ's Law of DrvoRCE 224 

Christ's Blessing of Little Children 226 

Christ's Discourse on the Last Days 253 

Marriage Ceremonies in the East 268 

The Lord's Supper 283 

The Lessons op Gethsemane 293 

The Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrim 297 

The Denial of Peter 301 

Lessons from Peter's Denial 304 

Character and Career of Judas Iscariot 307 

The Crucifixion 312 

The Nature op Crucifixion 315 

The Resurrection of Jesus 330 

THE GOSPEL OF MARE. 

Introduction to the Gospel of Mark 335 

Supplementary Notes in Mark — 

Ceremonial Washings 366 

Authenticity op Mark 16 : 9-20 399 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Christ Teaching in the Synagogue. Frontispiece. page 

Bethlehem. Looking west from the Convent of the Nativity 57 

FisHEKMAN Casting his Net. Near Magdala 81 

The Posture at Meal 127 

Ancient Bottle 130 

Staff and Scrip 138 

Grain Basket ; Travelling Basket 198 

Ancient Key 203 

Tetadrachm or Stater 212 

Denarius — A Penny 242 

Phylactery in use 247 

Fringed Garment 247 

The Temple of Herod 257 

The Cloak 261 

An Eastern Mill 266 

A Modern Marriage Procession in Jerusalem 269 

Assyrian Lamps 270 

Lamp and Trimmer 271 

A Shekel 281 

Reclining at Meal 282 

Roman Wine Cups 285 

Egyptian Cups 285 

Garden of Gethsemane : Jerusalem in the Background 290 

The Mach^era 295 

Interior Courtyard of Oriental House 303 

Plan of Oriental House 303 

Scourges 311 

Scarlet Robe 312 

Crown of Thorns 312 

The Reed 312 

Golgotha 314 

The Three Crosses 315 

Hyssop 318 



X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Two Centurions 320 

Road from Bethany to Jerusalem 333 

A Grabatus 344 

Ancient Candle-stick . . 350 

Ancient Skiff . 353 

Tomb at Gadara 355 

Ancient Mourning Women 359 

Tools of an Egyptian Carpenter 360 

Staff, Scrip and Skin Bottle 362 

Sandals— Shoes 362 

The Charger 363 

Executioner 363 

Modern Hand-washing 366 

Loaves of bread 371 

Tower of Tiberias 371 

Treasury Boxes 389 

Diagram of Jewish Sepulchre 396 

Plan of Tomb Door or Golal 397 

Tomb Door 397 



MAPS AND PLANS. 

Sketch Map illustrating the Journeyings of our Lord 41 

Map of Jerusalem in the Times of Christ 278 

Map of Galilee. Showing the miracles and journeyings of our Lord in its neigh- 
borhood 342 



THE STUDY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, 



THE New Testament consists of twenty-seven distinct documents, written by nine, 
perhaps ten, different authors. They were written without concert of action, at 
different times, for different purposes, and addressed to different readers. They differ 
also in character and style ; some of them are historic, some of them philosophic and 
didactic, one is poetic and prophetic. They were all composed during the first century 
after Christ, in the Greek language — unless Matthew's Gospel was first written in Hebrew — 
and the manuscript copies have long since perished. Thus our English New Testament 
is a translation from a Greek original, which is itself a copy of copies, the original being 
no longer in existence. I propose in this Introduction to trace the history of the New 
Testament from its origin to the present day ; to point out the central principle which 
unites these documents in one harmonious book ; to state the reasons which have led the 
Christian Church to regard them as in a peculiar sense inspired by God ; to give briefly 
the evidences which satisfy the Church that these books were really written by the authors 
whose names they bear; to describe the difficulties which Christian scholars have encoun- 
tered in ascertaining what was the text of the original manuscripts, and how they have 
overcome those difficulties ; and to narrate the history of our present English translation, 
indicate some of its defects, and the principles adopted in this Commentary in the 
endeavor to afford the Christian student aid in its interpretation. I propose then further 
to describe the characteristics of the Gospels, and their relations to each other ; to point 
out the seeming discrepancies and real harmony in their accounts ; to indicate the prin- 
cipal features in the earthly life of Jesus Christ ; and finally to furnish a table of the 
Evangelical narratives, arranged in parallel columns, so as to enable the student to fill out 
and complete this sketch in detail. 



PART I. THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

I. Its Nature. — The word Testament means covenant or agreement. It is gener- 
ally so translated. 1 This meaning lingers in the phrase " last will and testament." The 
will of a deceased is his last testament because it is his last covenant, the last agreement 
which he can make, one which often has to be accepted and finally executed by his heirs. 
It appears very clearly in the institution of the Lord's Supper. In the hospitable East 
a meal was the customary method of at once celebrating and sealing a treaty or compact, as 
is smoking the pipe of peace among the North American Indians, or the payment of a sum 
to bind the bargain in our more commercial age and nation. Christ, therefore, imme- 
diately before his death, arranged for a supper with his disciples, as a method of both 

1 As in Acts 3 : 25; Gal. 3 :15, 17 ; 4 : 24 ; and in many places in Hebrews. 



12 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

sealing and celebrating his compact or covenant with his Church ; and taking the cup 
of wine, he pledged his disciples in it with the words, " This cup is the new testament 
(i. e. , the new covenant) it) my blood, which is shed for you." 1 Thus every recurring 
communion season emphasizes the meaning of this word Testament, and repeats the solemn 
ratification of the compact between Christ and his people. 

The New Testament, then, is God's own covenant or agreement with man. 2 The 
opening chapter of Matthew intimates the character of this covenant. The angel, in 
announcing the advent of the Son of God, says to Joseph, " Thou shalt call his name 
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." The closing chapter of the Book of 
Revelation intimates the answer to the question, Who are his people ? " Whosoever will, 
let him take of the water of life freely." The New Testament, then, is God's promise to 
save from the present and future punishment of sin all those who come to Him for such 
salvation. It is not a book of rules for the government of conduct ; that is, it is not a 
new law. It is not a book of philosophy, respecting either human or divine nature ; that 
is, it is not a new theology. It is simply what its name implies, a new covenant on God's 
part to save from sin those who come to him, in child-like trust, for such salvation. This 
is a very simple truth ; but it is fundamental to a right interpretation of the book. 

The New Testament may be regarded as consisting of three kinds of books, (1) his- 
toric, (2) philosophic and didactic, (3) prophetic ; though each of these elements is to be 
found in all the books. 

1. The four Gospels and the Book of Acts are mainly historic. The first afford us our 
only information concerning the life and teachings of Jesus Christ ; the second gives an 
account of the results, in the early church, of the work of the Divine Spirit, whom Christ, 
at the time of his death, promised to send to the disciples after his ascension. These five 
books constitute the foundation on which the superstructure of the New Testament is 
built ; the historical basis for the new covenant which Paul in his Epistles analyzes and 
interprets, and the fulfilment of which John, in the Book of Bevelation, pictorially 
describes. 

2. The Epistles, most of which were written by Paul, are philosophic and didactic. 
They explain the necessity for such a covenant as the New Testament, its nature, the 
conditions on which we can avail ourselves of it, the consequences of rejecting it, the 
results of accepting it, in spiritual life, in the individual and the community, in the present 
world and the hereafter ; they contain wise counsels to Christians how best to promote 
the general acceptance of this covenant by Jew and Gentile; and with vehement rhetoric 
they urge its acceptance upon the reader. These Epistles, of which I shall write more 
fully in the introduction to the volume which contains them, differ in character, scope, 
and purpose. Some of them were written as circular letters to the church at large, some 
of them to individual churches, some of them to personal friends. They contain, therefore, 
some personal allusions and practical advice, which are only indirectly applicable to our 
own time, and some counsels in respect to church organization and church work, which 
are not, however, to be interpreted as ecclesiastical laws, but as illustrations of those 
principles of organic action which will render the church efficient in proclaiming the 
privileges of the new covenant to others. 

3. The only purely prophetic book of the New Testament is the Book of Revelation. 
Its object is to disclose the final fulfillment of the new covenant or agreement of God in 

1 Luke 22 : 20. 

2 This covenant is distinctly stated in Jer. 31 : 31-34, quoted in Hebrews 8 : 8-12. The difference between 
the old covenant and the new is indicated by comparing the language of the third commandment, " Showing 
mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments " (Exod. 20 : 6), with that of Paul, " God 
who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened 
ub together with Christ." Ephes. 2 : 4, 5. 



ITS ORIGIN AND AUTHORITY. 1,3 

the second coming of Jesus Christ, the complete and final overthrow of sin and suffering, 
and the manifest and perfect triumph of God and godliness throughout the universe. 

Thus it will be seen that the New Testament is not a mere collection of independent 
and disconnected treatises, but a harmonious whole, in which the new agreement or 
promise of God is first set forth in the life and death of Jesus Christ and the work of the 
Holy Spirit ; second, explained and enforced by the arguments of Paul and his apostolic 
contemporaries ; and finally disclosed in its fulfillment in the vision of John the prophet- 
apostle. 

II. Its Origin and Authority. — If the New Testament is a new covenant, there 
must be a covenantor. If it is a promise that God will do for man what man cannot do 
for himself, it must in a peculiar sense come from God, or it is not what it pretends to be. 
For example, if we suppose the declaration, " He shall save his people from their sins," 
was directly authorized by God, it is a divine promise on which we can with assurance 
rely ; if not, it only expresses the opinion which a Roman tax-gatherer of the first century 
entertained upon the subject, and is of no particular value. In other words, the divine 
origin and authority of the book is involved in its nature, and indeed in its very title. 
If it were a book of moral philosophy, i. e., if its object were to tell us how to conduct 
ourselves in this life, or if it were a book of theological philosophy, i. e., if its object were 
to teach, either by analogies drawn from nature, or by appeals to our own intuition, 
truths about God and our own souls, it might be uninspired and still valuable. But if 
it is an agreement on God's part to save his people from their sins, it must be inspired by 
God ; otherwise it is not a divine covenant to do, but only a human opinion concerning 
what God is likely to do. If it is not inspired it is no New Testament. 

Accordingly we find throughout the book the claim, or rather the quiet assumption, 
of that divine origin and authority which is implied in its very title. 

Jesus Christ himself, at twelve years of age, declares to his mother that he has come to 
earth to do his Father's business; 1 he is repeatedly said by the Evangelists to be acting 
under the influence of the Divine Spirit; 2 he declares to the Jews in Jerusalem that he 
speaks to the world those truths which he has received from his Father; 3 he declares to 
his disciples that the Father dwells in him, and that the words which he speaks he speaks 
not of himself, but from the Father which sent him and dwells in him ; 4 and in solemn 
prayer he reasserts that the words of truth which he has taught them the Father gave to 
him for that purpose. 5 He promises to his disciples before his death that he will not 
leave them alone, but will come unto them and dwell in them ; 6 that the Holy Ghost shall 
be their teacher and shall quicken their remembrance of their Master's teaching ; 7 and 
after his resurrection, when he gives them their final commission, he promises to be with 
them in all their work, even to the end of the world. 8 The opening chapter of the 
Book of Acts records the beginning of the fulfillment of these promises in the visible 
manifestation of the presence of the Spirit of God. In the first apostolic sermon Peter 
refers to a prophetic promise of inspiration contained in the Old Testament, and declares 
that the day of its fulfillment has arrived ; 9 and the subsequent portions of the Book of 
Acts contain on almost every page accounts of its further fulfilment. 10 Throughout the 
Epistles the writers assume to speak, not their own opinions, but the truths which they 
have been taught of God. They not only declare in general terms that all Scripture is 
given by inspiration of God, and that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the 

"Luke 2 : 49 2 Matt. 3 : 16; Luke 2: 40; 4: 14, 18; John 3: 34; Aetsl:2; 10:38; Romans 1: 4 

3 John 8: 28 4 John 14 : 10, 24.... s John 17: 8 8 John 14 : 17-19 'John 14: 26; 16: 7,13-15. Com- 
pare Matt. 10 : 19, 20 ; Luke 12 : 12 8 Matt. 28 : 20. Compare Acts 1 : 4. 5, 8 "Acts 2 : 4, 16-18, 33 

10 Acts 4: 8, 31; 6 : 10 ; 7 : 55; 8 : 29; 10 : 19, 20; 13:2,4,9-11,52; 15:28; 16:6; 19 : 6 ; 20 : 22, 23, 28. 



14 THE NEW" TESTAMENT. 

Holy Ghost ' — these declarations apply primarily only to the Old Testament— but they 
also declare of their own ministry and of the Gospel of the New Testament, that it is the 
"power of God," the "word of God," the "word of the Lord," "the glorious Gospel of 
the blessed God," " the commandments of the Lord," the " word of Christ," a " more sure 
word of prophecy " even than the Old Testament, spoken " in demonstration of the Spirit," 
in " words which the Holy Spiiit teacheth," and preached " with the Holy Ghost sent 
down from heaven." 2 If this claim be not true, the book not only ceases to be trustworthy 
as a promise or covenant of God, it also ceases to be trustworthy as a moral or spiritual 
guide. For, if the writers of the New Testament were not thus guided and impelled by 
the Spirit of God, if they were not the authorized bearers of a Divine promise to man, 
then they were either impostors or visionaries, the perpetrators of a fraud or the victims 
of a delusion. And neither impostors nor visionaries are safe and trustworthy spiritual 
guides. 

III. Evidences of its Inspiration. — The claim of the New Testament writers 
that they speak by the authority of God, and under the impulse and inspiration of the 
Spirit of God, has been generally regarded as well founded by the great majority of those 
"who have studied their writings and the history of the effects which they have produced 
upon the human race. It is impossible to do more here than summarize very briefly 
some of the principal considerations which have led to this conclusion. 

1. It is the fundamental doctrine of Christianity, confirmed by the history and expe- 
rience of the Christian Church, that God dwells in the hearts of his children, that he 
guides, comforts, and strengthens them, that the soul was not made to live alone, but in 
constant communication with God, and that the influence of the Spirit of God, thus 
vouchsafed to the spirit of man, is always adapted to his needs. Thus the doctrine of the 
special inspiration of the sacred penmen is only part of the more general doctrine of the 
inspiration of all who will accept the divine guidance. 

2. The history of the human race shows that there is a need of some more definite and 
explicit instruction concerning moral and spiritual truth and life than is afforded by the 
analogies of nature or the intuitions of uninstructed conscience. Without it no people 
have attained a high state of intellectual, political, or social civilization, still less a high 
state of moral and spiritual culture. 3 Without an inspired book the human race is with- 
out any adequate knowledge of God or the future life, without any reliable assurance 
of pardon for past sin or provision of escape from future sin, and without any trustworthy 
and immutable standard of human duty or ideal of human character. 

3. This need, interpreted by the universal craving for inspired oracles, writings, or 
priests, is supplied by the Bible. This book or series of books reveals a paternal God, 
whose love satisfies the filial yearning of the soul for a heavenly Father ; it reveals a 
future life, which satisfies both the requirements of justice and the aspirations after 
immortality ; it not only promises divine pardon on the condition of repentance and faith, 
but upon such an historical basis that its assurances do actually afford peace of mind to 
the believer, as no other religion does; it promises, on like conditions, divine help in 
change of life and character, and the help afforded in innumerable instances, in moral and 

'2 Tim. 3: 16; 2 Peter 1 : 21 2 10or. 1 : 18 ; 2:4, 12, 13; 14: 37; Col. 3 : 16; 1 These. 2; 13; 1 Tim. 

1: 11; 1 Peter 1: 12,25; 2Peterl: 19. Compare, also, Acts 10 : 36 ; 20 : 24; Rom. 15 : 29; 16:25,26; 2 Cor. 4: 4; 
6:4; Gal. 1: 11, 12, 16; Ephes. 3:9; 6: 17; Col. 1 : 26 ; Heb. 2:4; 1 Tim. 6:3; 1 John 4 : 6. It can hardly be 
necessary to refer the reader to passages in the Book of Revelation, since that is an unmeaning dream except it 
be regarded as an inspired vision. 

3 Let him who doubts this statement, and cites the Greeks and Romans as exceptions, study Pressense's The 
Religions before Christy or even Gibbon's or Lecky's descriptions of Roman and Grecian civilization. Or let 
the reader compare Paul's description of Roman morals, in Romans, chapters I and n, with any of the ancient 
historians, for they fully justify it. 



EVIDENCES OF ITS INSPIRATION. 15 

spiritual changes, not only in individuals but in entire communities, is the best evidence 
of the origin and trustworthiness of these promises ; it affords in the law of love a perfect 
and an inflexible standard of character, applicable to all ages, classes, and conditions of 
men ; and it affords in the life of Jesus Christ a perfect ideal of human life and character, 
which all can follow and which none have ever surpassed. 

4. The supreme excellence of the precepts and principles of the Bible negative the 
hypothesis that they were the uninspired productions of the men who transcribed them. 
It is easier to believe that the Ten Commandments were inspired by God than to believe 
that they were wrought out by a man whose sole training was derived from a Hebrew 
slave mother, an Egyptian court, and the life of a Midianitish shepherd ; easier to believe 
that the Sermon on the Mount, and the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John, were 
inspired by God, than to believe that they were the intellectual production of a Galilean 
carpenter. The lives which then, and ever since, those have lived who have received the 
Bible as the Word of God, when compared with the lives of the heathen who have not 
received its influences, afford also a perpetual evidence that those precepts and princiiiles 
are of superhuman origin, and possess a superhuman inspiring power. 

5. The unity of the Bible indicates that one Supreme intellect directed the various 
writers by whom its books were composed. It consists of sixty-six separate treatises, 
written by between forty and fifty different writers, living centuries apart, speaking dif- 
ferent languages, subjects of different governments, brought up under different civiliza- 
tions. Over fifteen hundred years elapsed between the writings of Moses and those of 
John. All forms of literature — law, history, biography, poetry, oratory, and philosophy — 
are contained in the Bible. Yet the same substantial truths are taught by all these 
various writers, and the moral and spiritual unity of the Bible is such that probably few 
of its readers ever realize that it is, humanly speaking, the product of so many individual 
minds. Unity of design in the Scriptures proves that there was one designer, as the 
unity in the architectural design of the cathedral, which is the construction of many dif- 
ferent hands, proves the supervising skill of the architect who planned and directed its 
construction. 

6. The fulfilment in the New Testament of prophecies recorded in the Old Testament, 
and the fulfilment in later times of prophecies recorded in the New Testament, prove 
that at least those portions which are prophetic were the work of Him who sees the end 
from the beginning, and afford a sign and seal of the inspiration of the other portions of 
the sacred writings. 

7. The miracles authenticate the divine authority of those who wrought them. Chris- 
tianity as a system of truth and duty does not, indeed, depend upon the miracles. But 
to those who accept the New Testament as an authentic narration of actual events, the 
miracles demonstrate that Christianity possesses the divine sanction, since they could have 
been wrought only by divine power. To this authentication of their authority frequent 
reference is made by the writers of the New Testament. 1 

8. The testimony of those writers is in itself not a demonstration of their inspiration, 
but it is an evidence thereof. That they claim to be inspired, and that Christ promised 
them such inspiration, we have already seen. If this claim is unfounded we must believe 
either that they were impostors, pretending to an inspiration which they knew they did 
not possess, or visionaries, believing themselves to possess an inspiration which they did 
not in fact possess. The heroism and self-sacrifice of their lives prove that they were not 
impostors; the excellence of their doctrine proves that they were not visionaries. In 
brief, to the great body of thoughtful men it will always seem more natural to believe 
that the writers of the Bible wrote and spoke under the special influence of the Spirit of 

1 Mark 16 : 20 ; John 10 : 85 ; Eom. 15 : 18, 19 ; Heb. 2 : 4. 



16 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

God, than to suppose that they belong in the same category with either Mohammed or 
Joe Smith. 

9. Finally, if the New Testament be not inspired, Christianity is not a divine covenant, 
but only a human system of theology and ethics. There is no trustworthy revelation con- 
cerning the nature and will of God, no assurance of divine pardon for sin, no provision 
of divine grace for the tempted. And in fact those philosophies which reject the Bible 
as the inspired Word of God teach that God is unknowable, or that there is no other God 
than nature, that his will cannot be ascertained, or is only manifested in natural law, 
physical and social, and that there is no forgiveness of sins, but that every man must bear 
in his own person the penalty of his transgressions, and work out by the force of his own 
will his own redemption. 

IV. Limits of Inspiration. — The word Inspiration means literally "in-breath- 
ing." The doctrine that the New Testament is inspired of God is the doctrine that the 
penmen in writing it acted under an influence from God, which conferred upon their 
minds and hearts a power greater than their own, or, as stated by Peter, that " holy men 
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 1 The manner in which this 
Divine influence acted upon their minds, and the extent to which it affected them and 
their writings, is nowhere distinctly stated in Scripture. There are various theological 
theories upon this subject, which I do not think it necessary to recount here. They may 
all be reduced to two general classes — the doctrines respectively of verbal inspiration and 
of moral inspiration. 

By verbal inspiration is meant the immediate communication by God to the writers, of 
every word which they wrote. " I believe," says Tregelles, " the sixty-six books of the 
Old Testament and New Testament, to be verbally the Word of God, as absolutely as were 
the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God upon the two tables of stone." 2 So 
Hooker 3 says of the prophets, " they neither spake nor wrote any word of their own, but 
uttered syllable by syllable as the Spirit put it into their mouths." That certain passages 
may have been written thus, as it were, by Divine dictation, the writers being mere 
amanuenses, is possibly true ; that the chief portions of the New Testament were thus 
written, is, I think, clearly not true. 

This method does not accord with God's general principles of action, which are to 
work in us and with us, helping our infirmities, not to relieve us of all responsibility and 
do the work in our stead. It does not accord with the claims of the sacred writers, who 
indeed, nowhere distinctly define the limits of inspiration, but who do very distinctly 
imply the existence of a human element, of personal thought and study in the writing. 4 
It does not accord with those variations in style, expression, thought, and even teaching, 
which give individuality to each of the sacred books, which make the three Gospels so 
different in style, that of John so different from the other three in subject-matter, and the 
Epistles of James and of Paul so different in the phases of truth which they respectively 
exhibit. It does not accord with the verbal, and even more than verbal discrepancies 
which are notable where two or more writers narrate the same event. Many such instances 
are afforded by a comparison of the parallel accounts of the three Synoptic Gospels. In 
the four variant reports of the inscription on the cross 5 is a striking illustration of a 
discrepancy which is just such as we should expect from independent historians, who to 
a large extent relied upon their own memory, or upon the recollection of others, but is 
utterly irreconcilable with the theory that they recorded as amanuenses what the Holy 

1 2 Peter 1 : 21. The true rendition of this passage, " holy men spake from God," intensifies its meaning 

but does not otherwise modify it * Quoted in McWhorter's Hand Book of the New Testament, page 23 .' 

■ Quoted in Lee od inspiration, page 35 * See for example Luke 1 : 3 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 21 s Matt. 27 : 37 ; Mark 

15 : £6 ; Luke 23 : 38 ; John 19 : 19. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 17 

Spirit dictated to them. 1 This theory does not accord with the subsequent history of the 
New Testament. For we have not the original words in which the books were written ; 
with the exception of a few scholars, the great majority of Bible readers are dependent 
upon a confessedly uninspired translation of a confessedly uninspired copy. Finally, the 
apostle distinctly declares that the letter killeth, while the Spirit maketh alive ; and a 
theory of verbal inspiration, i. e. of the inspiration of the words and letters, so far from 
quickening the spiritual impulse to a reverent study of the essential truths of the Bible, 
produces a directly opposite effect, and is neither productive of Scriptural scholarship nor 
true spiritual culture. 

By moral inspiration is meant such a divine quickening of the natural faculties of the 
sacred writers, that, while they used their own memory, reason, and religious and 
intellectual culture, they were protected from all such errors as would impair the value 
of their writings as instruments for religious instruction and spiritual impulse, or, in other 
words, that they were inspired just so far as was necessary to make their writings 
"profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." 
Minor errors in science, in chronology, in dates, diversities in forms and methods of 
expression, partial and fragmentary utterances, 2 immaterial discrepancies and apparent 
inconsistencies in different narrations of the same event, do nothing to shake the faith of 
those who hold this theory of inspiration. It allows, too, the opinion that the inspiration 
of different books is of a different kind, and that the same degree of authority is not to be 
attached to the books of Ruth and Esther as to the Ten Commandments, the purely personal 
epistle to Philemon as to the general epistle to the Romans, or to such a direction as that 
of 2 Tim. 4 : 13, as to the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the doctrine of 
inspiration which throughout this Commentary I have assumed to be the correct one. The 
evidences of its correctness will appear in the notes themselves. 

At the same time there are passages in which the language, as well as the idea, appears 
to me to have been supernaturally inspired. This is especially the case in many instances 
in the Evangelical reports of our Lord's discourses, where a peculiar significance is involved 
in the words used by our Lord and preserved by his reporters — a significance which is 
often lost in our English translation. 3 

I believe, then, that the New Testament is God's covenant with man ; that it is not an 
outgrowth of human thought, but comes from God ; that he has chosen to impart it 
through imperfect men, as he chooses imperfect men to proclaim and to interpret it; that in 
writing this New Covenant they had all the divine guidance and impulse necessary to make 
it a safe and sufficient guide to man in moral and spiritual life; and that their authority 
to speak for God is attested by the miracles they wrought, by the fulfillment of the 
prophecies they recorded, by the superhuman excellence of the doctrines and the life they 
inculcated, but yet more by the divine fulfillment of the compact which in God's name 
they professed to record, and in the beneficent effects, temporal and spiritual, which have 
resulted in the case of all individuals and of all communities which have accepted it and 
complied with its conditions. 

V. The New Testament Canon.— The word Canon means literally a carpen- 
ter's rule. Hence, by an easy transition, it is used to signify a rule or test in language, 
art, or religion. As applied to Scripture it may mean either the rules or principles by 
which the right of any book to be in the Bible is determined, or the authority of such 
book or books as a rule of faith and practice. It is in the latter sense that the word is 
now generally used. The term " Canonical books " means the books which afford an 

1 See for examples the arrest of Christ, the trial, and Peter's denials. Matt., chap. 26, and notes 'Such 

as Romans 13 : 8, 9 3 See for example Notes on Matt. 5 : 19, 44; 6 : 26 ; 7 : 1-5. The instances are verv 

numerous ; these may serve to illustrate my meaning. 



18 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

authoritative rule, in contrast with those which are uninspired and hence afford only 
human instruction. The history of the formation of the New Testament and the princi- 
ples which determine what books belong to it and are authoritative, constitute there- 
fore the theme of this section. What evidence have we that the New Testament which 
we now possess includes the inspired productions of the Apostles and excludes spurious 
imitations ? in other words, what evidence is there that we have the true canon or rule ? 
The evidence is of two kinds : external or historical, and internal or spiritual. 

I. External or Historical Evidence. — To the question, When, where, and by whom were 
the books of the New Testament collected into one volume ? no answer can be given. 
The New Testament was not formed ; it grew. The external evidence of its authenticity 
and authority is to be found in a history of that growth, and of the testimony of writers 
immediately succeeding the apostolic age. 

The Gospels bear the evidence in themselves that they were written for the informa- 
tion of the disciples of Jesus Christ, especially for those who had not directly received 
the Master's instructions, and who had not access to the verbal teaching of eye and ear 
witnesses. 1 The Epistles were written, either to local churches or to particular individ- 
uals, to impart, in a more systematic form, the precepts and principles of Christianity, to 
correct particular errors, or to afford instruction or inspiration needed in particular 
churches. Both apostles and churches anticipated the speedy second coming of Jesus 
Christ, and there is nothing to indicate that either recognized in these separate treatises a 
contribution to a permanent and universal book. But that the writers claimed to speak 
by authority of God, and in a peculiar sense under his inspiration, we have already seen. 2 
The writers of the New Testament were, moreover, all immediate disciples of Jesus 
Christ, excepting Paul, who claimed to have received instruction directly from the risen 
Lord, and to be therefore not less an apostle than the twelve. 3 The epistles thus received 
by the church from the immediate disciples of the Lord would be naturally held as a 
sacred possession. They were read publicly in the church services ; * churches exchanged 
their epistles one with another ; 5 they were unmistakably regarded by both writers and 
recipients as authoritative ;° and in one significant passage Peter expressly classifies the 
writings of Paul with the Old Testament Scriptures. 7 Thus, toward the close of the first 
century the materials for the New Testament had been accumulated. Each church pos- 
sessed, in addition to a copy of the Old Testament in common with the Jewish Syna- 
gogue, a letter or a gospel, or two or three letters, obtained by a system of exchange, 
while no church probably possessed the entire New Testament collection. It existed, but 
in fragments, and divided among the different churches. 8 

The apostles died, leaving these writings as a legacy to the infant churches. As tradi- 
tion grew more and more remote, and direct counsel from the apostles in the solution of 
questions of ritual, government, discipline, and doctrine was no longer attainable, these 
writings appreciated in value, and the authority of the letter was established by the death 
of the writer. Meanwhile, with the growth of the church, heresies sprang up. The 
heretics were often unprincipled. They sometimes mutilated the apostolic writings, 
sometimes denied their authenticity and authority, sometimes endeavored to palm off 
upon the churches spurious doctrines, with the sanction of a forged apostle's name. 
These practices, of which we get some hints even in the New Testament, 9 and some indi- 
cations in very early corruptions of the text, increased after the death of the inspired 

1 Lukel: 1-4; John 20 : 30,31 ' See under Section in 3 1 Cor. 9 : 1; 15: 8; Gal. 1: 15, 16; 2:2; 

Ephes. 3: 3 * 1 These. 5 : 27 ! Co). 4: 16 « Acts 15:23-31; 2 Cor. 10: 1-10; Rev. , chap. 2 : 3 

7 2 Pet. 3 : 16. 

• Mr. Norton, Genuineness of the Gospels, estimates that as many as 60,000 copies of the Gospels were in 
circulation by the end of the second century, by which time, however, the N. T. canon had been substantially 
organized • 2 Tim. 1 : 15 ; Titus 1 : 10-14 ; Eev. 22 : 18, 19. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 19 

writers. Thus at once the value of the genuine writings, and the evident necessity of a 
critical examination into all doubtful gospels and epistles, increased. Thus, too, in the 
controversies which ensued, and which reached their climax in the conflict between Arius 
and Athanasius (A. D. 325-336), quotations from the inspired writings of the Evangelists 
and Apostles grew more frequent. These quotations rendered necessary a larger inter- 
change of the original documents. Each church, dissatisfied with a second-hand report 
of an apostolic writing, sought and obtained a copy of the original, and thus gradually 
book was added to book, every claimant to inspired authority was subjected to a search- 
ing examination, the false were thrown out and the true alone accepted, until at length, 
by the close of the second century, the New Testament, substantially as we now have it, 
had grown into a book whose anthenticity and authority all parties in the Christian 
church alike acknowledged. 1 Thus the canon of the New Testament is established, not 
by the judgment of a single man, whose authority to select it would be difficult to estab- 
lish, not by the judgment of an ecclesiastical council, which might labor under the just 
suspicion of ecclesiastical prejudice, but by the general consent of thousands of local 
churches, and an innumerable body of individual Christians, whose combined judgment 
must ever be free from all possible suspicion of local prejudice or personal interest, and 
from any just charge of theological prepossessions. The evidence of the canonicity of the 
New Testament — that is, the evidence that we have in the New Testament the books 
written by the immediate disciples of our Lord, and only such — is to be found, not in the 
opinions of individual scholars, or the decrees of early councils, but in the abundant ref- 
erence to these books in the controversial writings of the three or four centuries which 
immediately followed the apostolic age. Without attempting to give this evidence in 
detail, which would be foreign to my purpose, I shall give such a summary of it as will 
afford the reader an idea of its character and the student a suggestion for more elaborate 
investigation. 2 

1. Clement of Some. Of his history little is known. He was Bishop of Rome at the 
end of the first century, is probably referred to by Paul in Philippians 4 : 3 as one of his 
" fellow workers," and was certainly a disciple of the apostles. Of the various works 
attributed to him, only the so-called 1st Epistle to the Corinthians is certainly known to 
be his. In this epistle, certainly published during the first century, and very probably 
as early as 64-70 A. D., he quotes, " as the words of the Lord Jesus," expressions in sub- 
stance identical and in phraseology similar to those reported in the Gospels of Matthew 
and Luke ; in a similar manner embodies sentiments and expressions found in James, 
1 Peter, and several of Paul's Epistles ; while his quotations from or similarities of expres 

1 " With the exception ot the Epistle to the Hebrews, the two shorter Epistles to St. John, the second 
Epistle of St. Peter, the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, and the Apocalypse, all the other books of the New 
Testament were acknowledged as apostolic and authoritative throughout the church at the close of the second 
century." — Westcott on the Canon of the New Testament, p. 306. 

2 To comprise in a few pages the results of discussions which fill hundreds of volumes, which have been 
conducted on both sides too often with unseemly acerbity, in which not unfrequently strong assertion has served 
for proof, and special pleading for critical scholarship, which depends on an examination and analysis of the 
literature of the first three centuries, its own authenticity sometimes involved in doubt, has been a matter of no 
small difficulty. It was possible to accomplish such a condensation only (1) by giving results and discussions ; 
(2) omitting all authors whose works are really involved in any reasonable doubt, such as Ignatius and Barna- 
bas ; (3) passing by without notice, though not without careful examination, the objections of rationalistic critics 
to the conclusions of Christian scholarship. Whatever on a fair examination has seemed to me doubtful I have 
omitted ; there is enough that is certain. The English student who wishes to examine the subject more thor- 
oughly is referred to Westcott, History of the Canon of the N. T., Scrivener's Plain Intro, to the Criticism of the 
JV. T., Davidson's Intro, to the N. T., Hone's Intro, to the Scriptures, and Smith's Bible Diet., art. Canon, pre 
pared by Dr. Westcott. A popular statement of results is given by Edward Case Bissell in The Historic Origin 
of the Bible, and a condensed statement of the argument in a little tract by Tischendorf, entitled " When were our 
Gospels Written ? " The most complete rationalistic argument against the canonicity of the N. T. in the English 
language is given by the anonymous work Supernatural Religion. 



20 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

sion to the Epistle to the Hebrews is so great that by some its authorship is attributed to 
him. In addition, his doctrinal statements accord with, and are apparently derived from, 
the writings of the apostles. 

2. Polycarp^ Bishop of Smyrna, born probably A. D. 70-80, martyred A. D. 166. One 
short epistle of his, to the Philippians, is extant, concerning the genuineness of which 
there is no reasonable question. It contains far more references to the writings of the 
New Testament than any other work of the first age ; and still, with one exception, 1 all 
the phrases which Polycarp employs are woven into the texture of his letter, without any 
sign of quotation. " In other cases it is possible to assign verbal coincidences to acci- 
dent ; but Polycarp's use of Scriptural language is so frequent that it is wholly unreason- 
able to doubt that he was acquainted with the chief parts of our canon." 2 His testimony 
to the genuineness and the then recognized value of the books of the New Testament is 
the greater because (1) it is incidental and indirect, and therefore demonstrates that the 
facts and doctrines referred to were already generally accepted in the church, and indi- 
cates that the books from which he apparently quotes were widely and popularly known, 
and regarded as an authority ; and (2) because he was personally a disciple of the apos- 
tles, especially of John, and was by the apostles ordained to the office of bishop or pastor 
of the church at Smyrna. His character seems to have resembled that of John in piety 
and loveliness ; he was esteemed even by his ecclesiastical opponents, and loved devotedly 
by his own disciples; by Jerome he is called the most eminent man of Asia. His quota- 
tions from the first epistle of Peter and the epistles of Paul are especially abundant. 3 

3. Papias. Of his history little is known with certainty. He appears to have been 
born toward the close of the first century, and to have been contemporary with Polycarp, 
but there is no adequate evidence that he ever saw any of the apostles. He refers expli- 
citly to a Gospel of Matthew, which he says was originally written in Hebrew, to a Gospel 
of Mark, whom he describes as writing as the interpreter of Peter, and also to 1 Peter, 
1 John, and the Book of Revelation. He does not refer to Paul's epistles, which Westcott 
explains by the supposition that he belonged to the Judaizing portion of the church ; "in 
such a man any positive reference to the teachings of St. Paul would have been unnatural." 

4. Justin Martyr. His birth is uncertain, probably toward the close of the first cen- 
tury. In his early life a Platonist, he was converted to Christianity A. D. 119-132, and 
wrote A. D. 140-147. His extant works are arguments for the truth of Christianity, 
which he mainly rests on the facts of Christ's life. Nearly all the principal events in that 
life may be gathered from his writings, which are founded on what he entitles "the 
Memoirs of the Apostles." These he describes as containing a record of all things con- 
cerning Jesus Christ, and as read customarily in the public services of the churches on 
the same footing as the prophets, i. e., as inspired and authoritative ; in one passage he 
says that " they are called Gospels." That the " Memoirs " thus described are our four 
Gospels seems to me unquestionable, though the fact has been questioned. All Justin 
Martyr's facts not directly traceable to the Gospels, as we have them, are said not to 
exceed six in number, and there is but one inconsistent with them, which may possibly 
be accounted for by a variation of manuscript. Besides the Gospels his writings show an 

1 The exception is as follows : The blessed and glorious Paul wrote letters to you (the Philippians), into 
which if ye look diligently ye will be able to be built up into the faith given to you. 

2 Westcott on the Canon of the New Testament. 

3 The apostolic fathers — under which general title are included such as were contemporary with any 
of the apostles (A. D. 70-120)— whose works are now extant, namely, Clement of Rome, Ignatius(?), Polycarp, 
and Barnabas(?), and possibly Hermias, contain references more or less distinct to the three Synoptic Gospels, 
the Epistles to the Romans, 1st and 2d Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1st and 2d Timothy, 
Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, and 1 John. The allusions to Thessalonians, Colossians, Titus, Philemon, and 2d 
Peter are very uncertain. The reader will find a full and classified account of these references in McClintock 
and Strong's Cyclopedia, article Apostolic Fathers. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 21 

acquaintance with all the remaining books of the New Testament except the epistles of 
James, Peter, Jude, and John, and those to Philemon and Titus. He refers by name to 
the book of Revelation. 1 

5. The Canon of Muratori. This is a Latin manuscript, which derives its name from 
its discoverer. It is an imperfect copy of a Greek original, written either in Africa or 
Rome, both the beginning and the end being lost. It claims to have been originally 
written during the second century, and scholars regard the claim as sustained by internal 
evidence. Hence "it may be regarded as a summary of the opinion of the Western church 
on the Canon shortly after the middle of the second century ;" 2 that is, when men were still 
living who had seen and possibly conversed with the apostles. It commences with a frag- 
ment of a sentence evidently referring to Mark's Gospel. It goes on to state that the 
Gospel of St. Luke stands third in the canon, and the Gospel of St. John, a disciple of the 
Lord, fourth. That the lost fragment refers to Matthew is probable, since four Gospels 
are distinctly recognized. In the list which follows all the books included in our present 
canon are embraced, except the Epistles of James and Peter and that to the Hebrews, and 
possibly 3d John. Two epistles of John are referred to, but it is not improbable that the 2d 
and 3d are included in one epistle, in this list. According to Westcott, the chasms found in 
the text of this writing afford the probable explanation of the omission of epistles which 
are known to have been in use in the churches at the time when the list is believed to 
have been prepared. An apocryphal " Apocalypse of Peter " is also mentioned, with the 
remark that some do not choose that it shall be used in the churches. It is a noteworthy 
and important fact that this Canon of Muratori does not give the writer's individual opinion, 
but the general consent and judgment of the Christian church of the age, that is, of the 
second century. 

6. Irenosus, born 120-140, a disciple of Polycarp, became bishop of Lyons A. D. 177, 
died probably about A. D. 200. His only extant work is a treatise against heresy. In 
this work "he maintains the co-ordinate authority of the Old and New Testaments; finds 
a characteristic reason, in the four quarters of the globe, why there should be just four 
Gospels, and no more ; assigns the authorship of these Gospels to those whose names 
they now bear ; quotes as Scripture the Acts, twelve Epistles of Paul (omitting Philemon), 
the Apocalypse (or book of Revelation), 1st and 2d John, 1 Peter, and is said by Euse- 
bius to refer, in a work now lost, to the Epistle to the Hebrews." 3 He does not profess 
to give a complete list of canonical writings ; hence his omissions prove nothing against 
the authority of the books not referred to, while his references are sufficient to prove that 
in his day the greater portion, if not the whole, of our New Testament was recognized as 
authority in the church. This testimony is the more significant because it comes from a 
disciple of a disciple of one of the New Testament writers. 

7. Clement of Alexandria was a contemporary of Irenaeus, and his life covers about 
A. D. 165-220. His birthplace is thought to have been Athens ; the major part of his life 
was spent at Alexandria. A Christian in faith, he devoted himself to the study of philos- 
ophy, with apparently a supreme love for truth, which he was ready to welcome in 
whatever school he found it. In his writings he treats the Law and the Gospel of equal 
authority, refers to them as " the Scriptures of the Lord," as though they constituted one 
recognized collection, and makes unmistakable references to and quotations from the 
four Gospels, the Acts, all of Paul's Epistles, except that to Philemon, the Epistle to the 
Hebrews (which he imputes to Paul), 1 John, 1 Peter, Jude, and the Book of Revelation. 

1 For a full list of his works, genuine and doubtful, see Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biographies, article 
Justinus Martyr ; for a full account of the bearing of his writings on the authority of the Gospels, see Westcott 
on the Canon of the N. T. 

2 Westcott. Even the anonymous author of " Supernatural Religion " concedes to this canon as early a 
date as the third century 3 Biseell's Historic Origin of the Bible. 



22 THE NEW TEST AMENT. 

But he also, as well as Irenaeus, cites as "divine writings" some works now universally 
regarded as apocryphal, thus indicating that the final collection of the New Testament 
writings into one recognized volume was not completed, 

8. Tertullian, born at Carthage about A.D. 160 ; the time of his death is uncertain, 
probably about A.D. 240. In middle life he abandoned the orthodox party and became 
identified with the Montanists, a sect of enthusiasts and ascetics. He was a voluminous 
author. His writings recognize the Old and New Testament Scriptures as one " divine 
instrument," the integrity of which he defends against heretics. He gives no complete 
catalogue of the New Testament books of his day, but incidentally refers to the four 
Gospels, the Acts, thirteen Epistles of Paul (including Philemon), 1 Peter, 1 John, Jude, 
and the Book' of Revelation. Certain apocryphal books recognized by Tertullian he 
characterizes as unauthentic. 

Origen, A.D. 186-254, a pupil of Clement of Alexandria. His scholarship not only 
was remarkable for that age, but would be so in any age. He was a voluminous writer, 
especially upon Biblical topics; he prepared two editions of the Old Testament, together 
with commentaries upon it. His independence was such that he was excommunicated 
and exiled from Alexandria for holding and promulgating opinions which were regarded as 
not orthodox by his ecclesiastical superiors. His courage, his intellectual independence, 
and the thoroughness of his scholarship are now generally acknowledged. He distinctly 
recognizes the four Gospels, 1 Peter, the Book of Revelation, and one of John's Epistles, 
and refers in general terms to Paul's Epistles, and to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the 
authorship of which he says is not certainly known. In addition, his quotations from the 
New Testament are so voluminous that Tregelles asserts that at least two-thirds of it may 
be found in his extant writings, simply in the form of citations. 

The Heretics. The writings of the heretics of the first three centuries are among the 
not least significant testimonies to the genuineness of the New Testament books. Some- 
times they write to disprove the authority of these books, sometimes they quote from 
them in support of the heretical doctrine ; but in either case their quotations afford 
indubitable evidence that the books referred to were generally accepted as authoritative 
by the Christian church. Simon Magus 1 and his followers not only recognized the facts 
in the life of Jesus Christ as recorded by the four Gospels, but also the peculiar weight 
attached by the church to the writings of the apostles. Gerinthus (probably beginning 
of second century) recognized the facts as reported by the four Gospels respecting Jesus 
Christ, though he denied the supernatural birth, and taught that the Divinity entered 
Jesus at his baptism and departed previous to his crucifixion. Basilides, probably a 
younger contemporary of Cerinthus, living in the age immediately succeeding the apostles, 
refers more or less explicitly to Matthew, Luke, John, Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, 
and Colossians. Ma/reion (A.D. 130), published a canon of books on which he founded 
his system of modified or reconstructed Christianity. It includes a revised edition of St. 
Luke and ten Epistles of Paul, excluding the Pastoral Epistle and that to the Hebrews. 
He set the others aside, however, not because their authorship was in doubt, but because, 
according to him, the apostolic writers themselves had but an imperfect apprehension of 
the truth. Finally Gelsus (second century), and Porphyry (third century), distinguished 
opponents of Christianity, refer in their attacks upon it to the writings of the disciples 
of Jesus Christ, in such a way as to leave no doubt that the substantial facts reported in 
the four Gospels, and the substantial doctrines taught in the Epistles, were recognized by 
both friend and foe, as constituting the historical and doctrinal system of the Christian 
church. 

Versions and Collections. The Peshito Version, in the Syriac tongue, is still the recognized 

1 Acts 8 : 9-34. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON. 23 

authority among the various sects of Syrian Christians, who claim to have derived it from 
the cburch at Antioch, which sent out Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. 
It almost certainly dates as far back as the second century, possibly is of still earlier date. 
It contains in its earliest forms the four Gospels, Acts, fourteen Epistles of Paul, including 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, James, 1 Peter and 1 John, and perhaps the Book of Revelation. 
An ancient Latin Version was almost certainly in common use in the second century, 
which, according to Westcott, included the books embraced in the Muratorian Canon, i. e., 
the four Gospels, Acts, thirteen Epistles of Paul (exchiding the Epistle to the Hebrews), 
three Epistles of John, 1 Peter, Jude, and the Book of Revelation. Eusebius, by order of 
Constantine, prepared (A.D. 332), fifty copies of the Scriptures for public use in Constan- 
tinople. The New Testament as prepared by him, embraced all the books of our present 
New Testament, except the Book of Revelation. Finally, the Council of Carthage (about 
A.D. 397), officially declared what were the books of the Canonical Scripture to be read 
in the churches. In their list the books of the New Testament are exactly those which are 
generally received at present. And it must be remembered that their action, like that of 
Eusebius, was not in the nature of an individual and authoritative decision of a doubtful 
question, but only an official declaration of the judgment which had been reached by the 
universal consent of the Christian church. 

Summary. The result of this investigation into the historical evidences of the 
canonicity of the books of the New Testament may be thus briefly stated. It is to be 
presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that books are the product of the 
authors whose names they bear. This reasonable presumption is greatly strengthened 
when they have borne that name for years and even centuries without question. In the 
fourth century the books of the New Testament, as we now possess them, were universally 
attributed to the authors whose names they bear, except the Epistle to the Hebrews, which 
is, in fact, an anonymous work. 1 In the absence of evidence to the contrary this 
universal opinion is to be presumed correct. But its correctness is not merely a reasonable 
presumption. The extant writings of a series of authors, extending from the days of the 
apostles to the fourth century, form an unbroken testimony to the genuineness of the 
collection. If the New Testament were destroyed, every important fact in the life of 
Christ, every important doctrine in the writings of the Apostles, and a considerable part 
of the words of both Evangelists and Apostles could be gathered from the extant writings 
of these unconscious and unintentional witnesses. They embrace representatives of every 
section of the Christendom of the first centuries — Europe, Asiatic Greece, Syria, Alexan- 
dria, Africa. They include orthodox and heretics, friends and foes of Christianity. 
Among them are to be found the ripest scholars, the most critical students, the ablest, 
most courageous, and most independent thinkers of their times. Many of them wrote 
before the church had become organized into a hierarchy, or Christianity into a system 
of recognized theology, and therefore before there was any considerable ecclesiastical or 
theological temptation to misstatement or misinterpretation. Their testimony is not, 
indeed, entirely unanimous ; some of them accept, as canonical, single books which are now 
rejected, and others reject, as uncanonical, single books which are now accepted ; but there 
is a substantial accord in their testimony ; not a single doubt is raised by any author, 
friendly or inimical, as to the authorship of the four Gospels, 2 and none as to any of the 
more important Epistles, excepting, perhaps, the Epistle to the Hebrews ; and if every 
book not supported by their nearly unanimous testimony were laid aside, the substantial 
teaching of the New Testament would not be affected. It is true that the earlier authors 

1 There is nothing in the Epistle to indicate the authorship ; the title " The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to 
the Hebrews " is no part of the original document. 

"Dr. Peabody says that they were never doubted till the last century. " Christianity and Science," p. 24. 
See Sec. I. for some other evidences of genuineness of the Gospels, in their language, their geographical accu- 
racy, and their undesigned coincidences. 



24 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

do not cite the New Testament writers by name. But this might naturally be expected. 
The author of to-day, in writing of the well-known events of the Civil War, would refer 
to the fact without citing his authority, while in referring to the more distant events of 
the American Revolution, he would refer to Sparks, or Hildreth, or Bancroft ; so the 
Apostolic Fathers, assuming that their readers are acquainted with the facts and the 
doctrines of which they write, abound in references to the facts recorded in the four 
Gospels, and the doctrines contained in apostolic writings, and even in quotations of 
words, phrases, sentences, and metaphors from the sacred books, without accompanying 
them with citations, while the writers of the succeeding ages refer by name to the authors 
from whom they quote. It is true that no list of the sacred writings appears till toward 
the close of the second century. But this might naturally be expected. For the New 
Testament was not written as a book, nor with any conference between the writers of 
its different documents, but by different writers to different churches and for different 
purposes. A list of contents could not therefore be made until, by a mutual interchange 
of these documents, the collection itself grew into a book. This testimony of the ancient 
fathers is confirmed by that of the ancient manuscripts. While of Plato and Herodotus 
we have less than thirty manuscripts, and not one of them one thousand years old, we 
have forty-seven of the New Testament which are more than one thousand years old, four 
of which certainly date from the fifth century or earlier, and one, the Sinaitic, which is 
believed by one of the ablest scholars of the age to date from A.D. 325. These 
manuscripts, though some of them are imperfect, unite in confirming the authorship and 
authenticity of our New Testament books. 1 

Finally, it must not be forgotten that this testimony has not only been weighed 
carefully by a large number of Christian scholars, but has also been severely scrutinized 
by a large number of rationalistic critics. As no ancient book has run the gauntlet 
of so much hostile criticism, so none is sustained by evidence so irrefragable. The most 
elaborate analyses of this evidence have been made by hostile critics. As interpreted by 
them it shows that the writings of the early fathers abound in quotations from certain 
widely-diffused and generally accepted Gospels and Epistles ; that these quotations embody 
the facts and doctrines of cur New Testament, not infrequently in nearly its exact words; 
that in the middle of the second century Gospels by Matthew, Mark and Luke were in 
existence ; that before the middle of the third century our New Testament, substantially 
as we now possess it, was generally recognized and accepted in the churches. Unless our 
Gospels and Epistles existed from the days of the Apostles, these quotations were made 
from books most of which are not now extant and some are even hypothetical ; the 
Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, referred to by Papias and Marcion, were not our 
Gospels, but other productions which have perished so utterly that not a trace of them is 
left in manuscript or quotation ; and all our Gospels and many of our Epistles were forged 
in lieu of the genuine and now lost books, and were accepted by the age which produced 
them, with a faith so unquestioning and so universal, that no one, heretic or orthodox, in 
African, Alexandrian, Syrian, or Roman Church, questioned the authorship of any Gospel 
or any important Epistle. And even this skepticism concedes, what the most hostile 
criticism cannot deny, that in the present Gospels we have the substantial facts 
concerning the life and death of Christ, and in the Epistles the substantial teaching of 
the Apostles, or, in the words of one of the most eminent leaders in infidel belief, 2 
" whatever else may be taken away from us by rational criticism, Christ is still left — a 
unique figure not more unlike all his precursors than all his followers, even those who had 
the direct benefit of his personal teaching." 

In view of this examination it is perfectly safe to say that, while the canonicity of all 

1 See below Section V, the text 3 John Stuart Mill, " Three Essays on Religion." 



THE TEXT. 25 

the books of the New Testament does not rest upon the same evidence, while some are 
involved in an uncertainty which does not attach to the others, 1 the genuineness of the 
collection as a whole is better established than that of any book or collection of books of 
ancient times — better than that of Homer in Greek, Virgil in Latin, or Shakespeare in 
English literature. 

II. The Internal and Spiritual Evidence of the canonicity of the New Testament 
books consists in a simple comparison of those books with those which are now univer- 
sally regarded as apocryphal and spurious. The limitations of my space forbid me from 
giving such a comparison, nor is it necessary. The contrast is so marked that no school, 
Protestant, Papal, or Rationalistic, attaches any value to the Apocryphal New Testament, 
and the contrast would be valuable only because it would indicate the nature of those 
mythical Gospels and spurious Epistles which really were the production of the sub- 
apostolic age, and with which modern skepticism desires to confound those of our New 
Testament. The reader who desires to trace the argument, the nature of which I here merely 
indicate, will find the material in The Apocryphal New Testament, or, less perfectly, in the 
articles Epistles Spurious, and Gospels Spurious, in McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia. 

VI. Tlie Text. — The books of the New Testament were originally written on papyrus 
paper, with pens made of reeds, and ink composed of lamp-black or burnt ivory. The 
material was not such as could be expected to survive a century of use, and in the first centu- 
ries there were no adequate libraries or archives where they could be preserved. They were 
probably written and used in the early churches, as the Old Testament Scriptures still are 
in the Jewish synagogues, in the form of scrolls ; but the form in which the most ancient 
manuscripts of the New Testament now extant are found is that of the modern book, 
generally folios or quartos. The earliest manuscripts now extant were written on parch- 
ment, i. e., the skins of sheep and goats, or vellum, i. e., the skins of abortive or at least 
sucking calves. The famous Sinaitic manuscript was manufactured of the skins of ante- 
lopes. It was not until the tenth century that paper came into use, manufactured from 
cotton rags ; and not till the twelfth century that paper was made from linen rags. The 
monks in the middle ages devoted much of their time to copying the books of the Old 
and New Testament, oftentimes with elaborate and rich illuminations. The libraries of 
the monasteries afforded a safe repository for these sacred treasures of art and literature, 
in an age when only superstitious reverence could have preserved them from vandalism. 
Thus there are now scattered throughout Europe these manuscript copies of the Scrip- 
tures, a few complete, more copies of single books, or of incomplete collections of books. 
There are said to be preserved now more than 2,000 of these manuscripts, bearing date 
from the fourth to the fifteenth century, and the ablest scholars have devoted their best 
energies to a careful comparison of them, for the purpose of ascertaining what is the 
original reading. Among scholars whose judgments are generally regarded as most trust- 
worthy are Griesbach, Lachmann, Tregelles, and Tischendorf ; to their opinions on ques- 
tions of text the reader will find constant references in this Commentary. For the Ameri- 
can scholar there is no better method of ascertaining the correct text than that which is 
afforded by Dean Alford's " Greek Testament." This contains the text which he himself 
regards as the correct one, with an accompanying statement of the different readings 
afforded by the various manuscripts of recognized critical value. 

The difficulty of determining the original reading is of two kinds. There is first a 
difficulty in deciphering the manuscript. The more ancient and therefore the more valu- 
able manuscripts, are written not only without division into chapters and verses, but 
without accents, or breathings, or punctuation, or any indication of the separation between 

1 The canonicity of each hook will be considered separately in the introduction to it. 



26 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

the words. The introduction of chapters and verses dates from about the fifth century ; 
they were employed probably for convenience of public service, and also for reference. 
The introduction of punctuation bears about the same date. That the reader may appre- 
hend the difficulty of deciphering a manuscript without these divisions of a later date, 
we place side by side an ancient manuscript version of John 1 : 1, 2, with the Greek ver- 
sion from Bagster's Greek Testament : 






xal 6 koyoq ijv tiqos 



o/^vor/. ovrro a w p t~ ° k6yoq - , ™ TO? ^ kv 

If s. -x i ^ -S KQXy xqoc; rov 

JJ Cl/)VH TDcrp^oo'To 

The accompanying reproduction in English of a style and combination of letters 
answering to the ancient Greek manuscript, will give the English reader a partial idea of 
its character and the difficulty of deciphering it, enhanced as it is by variations in the 
form of the letters and obscurity in the manuscripts : 

* * * * andthewordwas 

withgd'andgdwastheword 

hewasinthebeginningwithgd 

allweremadebyhimandwith 

outhimw asm adenotone thing' 

thatwasmadeinhimlzf^was* 

ahdthelifewasthelightofmn 

andthelightinjdarknessshin 

ethandthedarknessdidnotitcompre 

hend- therewasamnse 
Ntfromgodwhosestame was 

IOHNTHISPtf-RSOiVCAME 

ASAWITNESSTHATHEMIGHTTESTI 

FYCONCERNINGTHELIGHTTHATA 

LLMIGHTBELIEVETHROUGHHIM* 
The difliculty of deciphering is not, however, the only nor the principal one. These 
various manuscripts present varieties of readings. A few of these varieties consist in what 
was probably a deliberate addition or a mutilation of the text for doctrinal reasons; in 
other instances an addition which one copyist has made, perhaps in the margin, perhaps 
parenthetically, in order to explain the original text, has been by subsequent copyists 
incorporated in it. The great majority of variations, however, are insignificant and 
unimportant, and are the result, simply, of a natural error in transcribing. Of the first 
kind of alteration 1 John 5 : 7 is an illustration : " For there are three that bear record in 
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one." This is 
now known to be an interpolation, added to the Greek text as late as the sixteenth 
century. Of the second, the statement in John 5 : 4 is an example : " For an angel went 
down at a certain season into the pool," etc. This was probably added by the copyist 
for the purpose of explaining why the impotent folk gathered about the pool of Bethesda. 
So, in some of the ancient manuscripts, Barabbas is called Jesus Barabbas, the name Jesus 



THE TEXT. 27 

having been perhaps omitted by subsequent copyists from a sentiment of reverence. Such 
modifications are, however, very rare. Out of nearly one hundred and twenty thousand 
variations ' very few affect the sense, and fewer still have any bearing on the doctrinal and 
practical teachings of the Bible. Nearly all are merely differences in orthography (as in 
the English, favor and favour), or, in the order of words (as, then went there out to meet him, 
and then there went out to meet him), or in the names of the same person (as Cephas and 
Peter), or similar variations incident to manual transcription. 

In ascertaining which of various readings is the correct one, resource is had to two 
kinds of evidences, external and internal. The external evidence is derived from an 
examination of the manuscripts themselves. Where the more ancient manuscripts are 
uniform in their reading, their testimony is generally considered conclusive ; where they 
are not so, recourse is had to internal evidences, that is, to a consideration of the question 
which reading is inherently most probable. For example : John 5 : 4 is wanting in some 
of the best manuscripts and is found in others ; thus the external evidence is somewhat 
conflicting. But it is easy to understand how a copyist might have inserted this verse as 
an explanation of the account, while it is not easy to understand how it should have 
become expunged from the record if it was originally there, since the angelic interference 
thus described would not seem strange to the writers of the first centuries. Thus internal 
evidence is against the genuineness of the passage. 

The manuscripts differ not only in the matter of which they are composed, but also in 
the form of the letters. In the Uncial manuscripts, which are the oldest, the letters are all 
capitals ; in the Cursive manuscripts, which seem to have come into existence in the tenth 
century, the letters run together, often with no capitals except in the case of initial 
letters. Sometimes the original writing has been almost or altogether obliterated, and the 
parchment has been used for other writing. This has been subsequently removed and 
the original restored. Such manuscripts are called palimpsest manuscripts; that is, 
manuscripts re-written. When the text is accompanied by a version, the manuscripts are 
termed codices oelingues or double-tongued. The age of the manuscript can be determined 
with substantial accuracy by the materials of which it is composed, the form of the 
letters and words, the presence or absence of punctuation, and other marks of division. 
The following are the most important Uncial manuscripts. For convenience of reference 
they are lettered by scholars as here, though in the notes I refer to them by name and not 
by letter. 

A. Alexandrine Manuscript (Codex Alexandrinus), now in the British Museum. It is on 
parchment, in four volumes, three of which contain the Old and one the New Testament. 
The first twenty-four chapters of Matthew are wanting. It is now generally agreed that 
it was written in Alexandria, and during the fifth century. 

B. Vatican Manuscript (Codex Vaticamis), in the Vatican Library at Rome. It is on 
vellum, contains the Old and New Testaments, but Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Book 
of Revelation, and Hebrews 9 : 14 to the end are wanting. It is thought to have been 
written in Egypt during the fourth century. No really satisfactory edition of this manu- 
script has ever been published. 

C. The Ephraem Manuscript (Codex Ephraemi), in the Imperial Library at Paris. It 
is a palimpsest manuscript consisting of the works of Ephraem, the Syrian, written over 
fragments of manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments. It is believed to have 
been written in Alexandria in the fifth century. It contains only portions of the New 
Testament. 

D. Cambridge Manuscript (Codex Cambridgiensis), called also Codex Bezce, because 
presented by Beza in 1581. It is in the University Library at Cambridge, is on parch- 

1 The estimates are very various ; in the whole Bible they have been estimated as high as 800,000. 



28 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

nient, and contains the four Gospels, the Acts, and a fragment of the Catholic Epistles, 
together with a Latin version. Its origin is uncertain, and its value is a matter of dispute ; 
it is now generally attributed to the fifth or sixth century. 

n. Sinaitic Manuscript {Codex Sinaiiicus) in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg. 
It derives its name from the fact that it was discovered by a singular accident by 
Tischendorf in 1859 in the convent of Mt. Sinai. His first hint of its existence was 
afforded by the fact that fragments of it were brought to him (in 1844) by the ignorant 
monks in a basket of rubbish with which to kindle his fire ! It contains part of the Old 
Testament and the whole of the New. It is one of the oldest and the most valued of the 
manuscripts. Tischendorf attributes it to the fourth century. 

There are Uncial Manuscripts and a great number of cursive manuscripts. Some of 
them of considerable value. The English reader will find a good account of them in 
Kitto's Cyclopedia, article Manuscripts. See also Alford's Greek Testament and Bissell's 
Historic Origin of the Bible. Our English New Testament is translated from a Greek 
text printed from very late Greek manuscripts, in the sixteenth century. This text, 
since it is the basis of our English version, is known as the Received Text or Textus 
Beceptus. 1 The discovery of ancient manuscripts since that time, the careful and critical 
collation and comparison of them, and the development of critical scholarship, by this very 
process, has led to the discovery of errors in the Received Text, and to the elucidation 
of a text which probably much more nearly conforms to the originals of the sacred writers. 
In this Commentary I have generally followed the text of Alford's Greek Testament 
wherever any variation in the reading affects the sense. In all such cases I have 
indicated the variation in the notes, and wherever there is any material question respecting 
the reading I have also indicated that fact, with a brief reference both to the different 
manuscripts and to the opinions of the leading critical scholars. 

These differences in the text, the reader must not forget, are for the most part of very 
minor importance. There are a few passages of some significance, as John 8 : 1-11, and 
Mark 16 : 9-20, the genuineness of which is involved in doubt. But for the most part the 
variations are verbal and trivial. " So great, in fact," says Mr. Bissell, 2 " is the harmony 
of teaching in all these documents, though we compare the earliest with the latest, that 
while three of the most important Uncials had not been discovered when our present 
English translation was made, and one that was known to exist was inaccessible (the 
Vatican), and only a single specimen of the less valuable of these most ancient witnesses 
was used (the Cambridge Manuscript), yet no person would hazard the opinion that in 
our English Bibles we have not, for substance, the teaching of the best documents brought 
to light during the last two hundred and fifty years." The slight variations in the 
readings, and the careful and critical examination to which they have given rise, enhance 
our assurance, that in all substantial respects we have the text of the original documents, 
whose character is testified to by so many and so independent witnesses. 

VII. Our English "Version. — From a very early time the endeavor has been made 
by the church to supply the Bible in the vernacular tongue. A Greek version of the Old 
Testament Scriptures was in popular use in Palestine in the days of Christ, and the 
quotations from the Old Testament by Christ and the Apostles are generally from this 
version. It is known as the Septuagint, a word meaning seventy ; the name is derived 

1 The " Received Greek Text" {Textus Beceptus) on the continent of Europe, is that of the Elzevir edition 
of 1633 and 1634. In England and America the " Received Text" is Mill's reprint, with a few typographical 
errors corrected, of Stephen's edition of 1550, often differing from the Elzevir edition. The groundlessness of 
its pretensions to be accepted as the Received Text of the New Testament, is shown by a writer in the 
Edinburgh Review for July, 1851. — Dr. T. I. Conant, in AbbotCs Religious Dictionary. 

* Historic Origin of the Bible. 



OUR ENGLISH VERSION. 29 

from an ancient though now discredited account of its origin. According to this legend, 
the Septuagint was prepared under the authority of Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 309-247), 
by seventy-two scholars, who were commissioned for the purpose by Eleazar, the high- 
priest at Jerusalem, and were by the king shut up in the island of Pharos at Alexandria, 
till their task, which required just seventy-two days, was completed. That the translation 
was made in the third century before Christ, and at Alexandria, is probable ; the rest of 
the story is apocryphal. The Septuagint is rejected by the Jews and regarded by 
Christian scholars as imperfect. But, notwithstanding its errors, it is of inestimable value, 
not only in the study and interpretation of the Old Testament, but also in throwing light 
upon the proper rendering of the Greek of the New Testament. 

Next in importance to the Septuagint, which contains, of course, only the Old Testa - 
tament, is the Vulgate, an ancient Latin version of both Old and New Testaments. This 
translation was prepared by Jerome, A.D. 385-405, and since the seventh century has been 
adopted in the Romish Church as the authentic text of Scripture. By the Council of 
Trent it was ordained that this version alone should be esteemed as the authorized text, and 
that no one should dare to reject it under any pretence whatever. There are two principal 
editions of this version, called respectively, from the popes under w T hom they were 
prepared, the Sixtine and the Clementine. The latter is the standard in the Romish 
Church at the present day, and is the basis of the Roman Catholic English version of the 
Bible. This is commonly known as the Douay Version, from the fact that the Old 
Testament translation was prepared in the sixteenth century at Douay, in France. The 
New Testament translation was first published at Rheims. and is known as the Rhemish 
version. The translation is not from the original Greek and Hebrew, but from the 
Vulgate. It thus perpetuates the errors which the imperfect scholarship of the fifth 
century had not discovered and corrected; while the literalness of the translation renders 
it sometimes quite unintelligible. The best Roman Catholic scholars concede the imper- 
fections of the Douay and Rhemish versions, and the superiority of the Authorized or 
King James' version. 1 

The history of this version 2 carries us back to the beginnings of English history. An 
attempt was made to translate portions of the Bible into the English, or rather Anglo- 
Saxon, as early as the seventh century, by the venerable Bede ; and another, in the ninth 
century, by Alfred the Great ; but all these attempts were fragmentary and imperfect. 
They were, for the most part, loose paraphrases — poems founded on Bible narratives, or 
abridgments ; and down to the year 1360, the Psalter was the only book of the Scriptures 
literally translated into the English language. About this time Wycklifie, lamenting the 
degeneracy of the Church and the irreligion of the people, commenced and completed a 
translation of the New Testament from the Vulgate or Latin version. For this offence he 
was cited to appear before the Court of Rome, and probably nothing saved him from 
condemnation except his failing health and early death in 1324. Although before the 
days of printing, his translation seems to have been extensively circulated; one hundred 
and seventy manuscript copies, more or less, are still extant, some of them bearing the 
names of their royal owners. It is said that the yeomen were so anxious to obtain the word 
of God, that they often gave a load of hay for a few chapters. One and a half centuries 
later, William Tyndale published the first part of the Holy Scriptures ever printed in the 

1 In Smith's Bible Dictionary, article Versions Authorized, the reader will find a list of passages indicating 
the nature of the imperfections in this translation. They are chiefly of three kinds : (1) A few that are due to 
theological bias, such as the substitution of "do penance" for "repentance:" (2) Some that are due to the 
use of obsolete or un-English words, as "azymes," "pasche," "longanimity ; " (3) Some that are due to the 
avowed principle that the Scriptures were not intended for the common people— a principle which manifests 
itself occasionally in a translation that is absolutely unmeaning, as in the rendition of Ephes. 6 : 12, " Against 
the spirituals of wickedness in the celestials." 

2 The following epitome is taken chiefly from my Dictionary ofSeligious Knowledge. 



30 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

English language. They were printed at Hamburg, Cologne, and subsequently at Worms ; 
for Rome had still the control of England, and the first edition was so effectually destroyed, 
that only two copies of it are known to exist. The priests, however, overreached them- 
selves ; for they bought up Tyndale's Testaments at a high price, and publicly burned 
them, but by the operation unwittingly put Tyndale out of debt, and gave him the means 
to issue a larger and better edition. By treachery he was betrayed into the hands of 
the priests and put to death ; but his work lives to-day as the basis of our English Bible. 
Almost simultaneously with his death was published the whole Bible, translated by Myles 
Coverdale, and soon after the (so-called) Matthew's Bible, published under that name by 
John Rogers, the martyr. The accession of Bloody Mary drove the Reformers from 
England, and gave rise to the Genevan Eible, so entitled from the fact that it was pre- 
pared and published at Geneva. After her death the leading dignitaries in the English 
Church, under Queen Elizabeth, took measures for the publication of an official transla- 
tion, which went by the name of the Bishops' Bible. And toward the close of the six- 
teenth century, yielding to the pressure which had become too great to be longer resisted, 
the Roman Catholic authorities prepared and published the Douay and Rhenish versions 
already alluded to. 

These various versions were, in God's providence, only preparations for the great work 
of rendering the Bible in an authorized manner into the English tongue. On the acces- 
sion of James I., fifty-four of the first scholars of the kingdom, without regard to sect or 
party, eminent alike for learning and for piety, were appointed to make a new translation. 
They were engaged in the work for seven years — A. D. 1604-1611. Three years were 
occupied in individual investigations ; three more in systematic and united work. Only 
forty-seven of the fifty-four scholars were actually engaged. They were divided into six 
classes — two at Westminster, two at Oxford, and two at Cambridge. The books of the 
Bible were divided among these classes. Each member of each class translated all the 
books intrusted to the class. Then the whole class met, and, after thorough revision, 
adopted a common text. Then that text was transmitted in succession to each of the 
other classes for revision. Then the text of the whole Bible, approved by the entire six 
classes, was submitted to the final revision of six elected delegates, with six consulting 
assistants, and their approved manuscript was placed in the skilful hands of Dr. Smith, 
distinguished for his knowledge of ancient languages, to examine and prepare it for the 
press. In their work, not only the former English versions, but the Hebrew, Chaldee, 
Greek, Syriac, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch, were all consulted ; and among 
the commission were not only men eminent for Biblical learning, but men distinguished 
as linguists, naturalists, antiquarians, and historians. A single significant circumstance 
indicates how desirous the translators were to bring the reader into contact with the very 
letter of the originals. Every word which had no direct representation in the original 
Hebrew or Greek was printed in italics, that it might be seen what the translators had 
supplied ; and in the marginal readings was added further information where the minds 
of the translators were in doubt. Thus it will be seen that the English version of the 
Scriptures is really the fruit of a century of study ; to which should be added the reflec- 
tion that it was prepared at a time when the Reformation was yet fresh, and the Reform- 
ers, scarcely free from the trammels of Rome, had not yet begun to divide into different 
denominations. There probably had never been an era in the history of the Church so 
favorable for the preparation of an unsectarian translation of the Scriptures as that in 
which the King James version was prepared. 

Still, though a remarkable translation, it is not claimed by any to have been inspired 
or to be infallible. The state of the original text was imperfect ; the knowledge of the 
Greek and Hebrew grammars was less accurate and thorough than it is now ; the same 



PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. 31 

Greek and Hebrew word is not infrequently rendered by different English words, and the 
English language itself has undergone changes whicb require in the translation some 
modifications. 1 These facts have at various times induced individual scholars to attempt 
further revisions of the whole or of parts of the Bible ; and at length a voluntary commis- 
sion has been organized, including representatives from the different Evangelical churches 
of England and America, and embracing the ablest Biblical scholars of both lands, to pre- 
pare a new and revised translation of the Bible. Their avowed purpose is, however, to 
accept the Authorized Version as a basis, and to introduce as few alterations in the trans- 
lation as is consistent with fidelity to the original. These committees, for there are two, 
one on the Old Testament and one on the New Testament, are now engaged upon their 
work. The notes in this Commentary accompany the Authorized or King James Version. 

VIII. Principles of Interpretation. — The Bible is not a substitute for thought ; 
it is a stimulant to thinking. Its office is not merely to reveal necessary truth to the 
unlearned, but also to stir to the highest activity the faculties of all men. It is the store- 
house of divine truth, whence the centuries gather their supply. It is the widow's cruse 
of oil, which, forever drawn upon, never grows less. Thus it abounds with apothegms, 
proverbs, germinant philosophies enwrapped in single seed texts, which yield their fruit- 
fulness only to the careful and conscientious student. It treats of experiences which 
transcend thought; it deals with themes which lie beyond the utmost vision of the imagi- 
nation. Its supreme teachings are hidden alike from the careless and superficial reader, 
and from the prejudiced and dogmatic controversialist ; and are revealed only to the 
humble, earnest, and thoughtful student. For the assistance of such students, I embody 
here certain essential principles of interpretation, as tbey have been evolved in my own 
study of the New Testament, and have been applied and employed in its interpretation. 

1. I have sought to secure the best Greek text. In general, I have followed that of 
Al ford's New Testament; but wherever there appeared, on careful study, any adequate 
reason for varying from his conclusion, I have done so. Generally the external evidences 
should outweigh the internal ; that is, we are generally to accept as the true text that 
which is indicated by the most ancient Greek manuscripts ; rarely, if ever, may we justly 
set aside their concurrent testimony, because the reading they afford is difficult to inter- 
pret or to reconcile with other passages of Scripture. 

2. I have sought, by a careful study of the original, to ascertain the exact literal 
meaning of the words. When that has been doubtful the translations of the best scholars, 
in Latin, German, and English, have been compared. , In determining the exact meaning 
of a doubtful Greek word the New Testament usage is always, and the Septuagint usage 
is generally to be preferred to that of the classical writers. I have founded the notes 
on the English version, but my studies on the original Greek ; and wherever a new transla- 
tion seemed likely to convey more adequately or more freshly the meaning of the origi- 
nal, it has been given in the notes. 

3. The original text and its meaning being understood, the student is next to master the 
general scope of the address or document which he is studying, and the aim of the speaker 
or writer. Texts are not to be taken out of their connection — still less to be woven into new 
connections and relations — to afford a basis for a doctrine, a ritual, or a discipline. The 
rule of legal interpretation is, in this respect, fundamental to a true interpretation of the 
Scripture, viz., that the parts of a document, law, or instrument are to be construed 
with reference to the significance of the whole. In many cases the neglect, on the part 
of Bible students, to put themselves en rapport with the sacred writer involves the writing 

1 For a foil account of the errors in onr English version and the necessity for a new or revised translation, see 
The Revision of the New Testament, combining three papers by Lightfoot, Trench, and Ellicott respectively. 



32 THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

in needless obscurity. Thus the key to the famous parable of the laborers in the vine- 
yard, in Matt., ch. 20, is given by the question of Peter in the preceding chapter, to which 
it is an answer ; and the still more difficult parable of the unjust steward, in Luke, ch. 
16, is relieved of much if not of all its difficulty, by observing the fact stated in verse 14, 
" the Pharisees also, which were covetous, heard all these things : and they derided him." 
This hint that the parable is aimed at covetousness is the key to its right interpretation. 

4. In studying the aim of the speaker or writer we may generally assume that he is to 
be understood as those to whom he spoke or wrote would have understood him. We are 
therefore to acquaint ourselves with their customs, their philosophies, their errors, their 
sins ; we are to put ourselves in their place, and to hear and understand as they would 
have done. It is indeed often true that there is more in Scripture than they could have 
perceived, a fullness of truth which only time could interpret. But this deeper meaning 
is rarely if ever inconsistent with the less profound truth, which the contemporaries of 
Christ and the apostles might, and generally would, have apprehended from the discourse 
or the letter. The failure to apprehend and apply this principle has involved the familiar 
passage concerning the power of the keys in much of its mystery. 1 

5. Everything in the New Testament is written for a practical or spiritual purpose. 
It is not a book of abstruse metaphysics ; its aim is always the development of a divine 
life in the soul. It is therefore essential to a correct apprehension of its wording that the 
student weigh well its practical or spiritual significance. A careful and prayerful pon- 
dering of the question, How is this passage to make men better, to bring them nearer to 
God, or to render their manifestations of the divine life more luminous ? will often give 
the interpretation to passages which remain unsolved enigmas to unspiritual students. 
The spiritual and the critical study of the Scriptures must go together. The substitution 
of the critical for the spiritual deprives the New Testament of its soul ; the substitution 
of the spiritual for the critical supplants the doctrine of the Word of God with the imagi- 
nation of the commentator. Critical study has made great advance in modern times ; 
but I have found no better spiritual interpreters of the New Testament than Chrysostom 
and Matthew Henry, i. e., none that realize more fully, and employ more constantly, the 
truth that the words of the New Testament are life. In this Commentary I have devoted 
little space to drawing doctrinal or ethical conclusions from the text; but I have sought 
always to ascertain its spiritual purpose, as a necessary condition of interpreting its true 
meaning. 

6. According to the Roman Catholic doctrine the Bible is made for the church, and 
the church is its interpreter to the people. It is thus like a ship's chart, which the officers, 
not the passengers, are to consult. Protestant commentators have sometimes practi- 
cally adopted this view, while theoretically repudiating it. Believing that the Bible is 
given by God for the people, that it is meant to be their illumination and their inspira- 
tion in the divine life, I think it safe to assume that those interpretations which are 
abstruse, involved, or obscure, those which require peculiar logical and metaphysical 
acumen, those which do not illumine but darken, do not inspire but deaden, which con- 
fuse the mind and benumb the soul, are always to be rejected. And of two interpreta- 
tions, one of which is characteristically ingenious and the other is characteristically simple, 
the preference is always, other things being equal, to be given to the latter. Ingenuity 
in interpretation is a fatal encomium to bestow upon a commentator. Often a knowledge 
of ancient life is necessary to an understanding of Scripture ; often some proficiency in 
divine truth ; still more frequently some attainment in spiritual experience, without which 
its sublimest declarations are incomprehensible. 2 But these attainments are open to the 
unlearned many as to the cultured few. Whenever after careful study I have not been 

1 See Matt. 16 : 19, note a Matt. 13 : 11-16 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 7-16. 



X 



PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION. 33 

able to find a simple and natural interpretation, I have contented myself with frankly 
pointing out the difficulty, stating briefly the principal interpretations of other commen- 
tators, and so leaving the passage for the elucidation of the future. 

7. A reasonable regard is to be paid to the peculiar idiosyncrasies of the sacred writers 
and their peculiar circumstances. That Paul should inculcate faith, and James works, 
and John love; that Matthew should recount the miracles and the ethical instructions of 
Jesus Christ, and John his spiritual teachings, accords with the free spirit of the Gospel. 
The truth is divine ; its expression is human. Some consideration, therefore, of the temper- 
aments and mental characteristics of the writers, as indicated by their writings, and some 
allowance therefor is essential to the best elucidation of the truth. 1 From Paul's expres- 
sion in Rom. 9 : 3, " I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren," a literal 
interpretation has deduced the doctrine that we ought to be willing to be damned for the 
glory of God. The interpreter who thus ignores the ardency and warmth of Paul's nature, 
and his constant use of hyperbole in the endeavor to give utterance to unutterable feeling, 
loses the truth which is really conveyed, a truth of experience, not of philosophy, the 
ardent desire for souls which should always characterize the disciple of Jesus Christ. A 
not less striking illustration of the consequence of ignoring or denying this principle of 
interpretation is afforded by the doctrine of the Real Presence. This doctrine is 
founded upon Christ's declaration, This is my body, but with singular if not deliberate 
inattention to the circumstances under which it was uttered, the symbolic language of 
the Passover for which it was a substitution, and the fact that Christ often clothed his 
teaching in poetic forms, or, in other words, was a true poet. 

8. Subject to these principles, due consideration is to be paid to the parallel or the 
contrasted teachings of Scripture. In this Commentary the material for a study of these 
is afforded by the full marginal references, and by those which are incorporated in the 
notes. Where the meaning of any writer is in doubt, it is always legitimate to examine 
other utterances of the same writer, and to interpret what is enigmatical by what is clear. 
It is also legitimate to examine the utterances of other writers of the same general school or 
faith, and employ the one in interpreting the other. It is customary, upon this principle, 
to refer to the debates of the Constitutional Convention, and to the writings of Jefferson, 
Madison, Hamilton, and their contemporaries, in order to ascertain the meaning of doubt- 
ful phrases in the United States Constitution. The substantial harmony of doctrine of the 
various writers of thc'New Testament, and the consistency of each writer, is to be pre- 
sumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, and that interpretation is to be pre- 
ferred which sustains this presumption. For this reason it is true that in many cases 
Scripture is its own best interpreter. Thus Christ's paradoxical saying in Luke 14 : 26, 
" If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother * * * he cannot be my dis- 
ciple," is to be interpreted in the light of the humanizing influence of his general teach- 
ings, and his example of filial love to his own mother. 

9. But it is not legitimate to deny, limit, or interpret away the plain and unenigmati- 
cal declarations of a writer, in order to make them accord with his other utterances, or 
with the utterances of other writers. This has been often done in the predetermined 
endeavor to construct a system of theology and ethics out of the Bible. As in science it 
is the duty of the investigator to accept the plain facts of nature, to harmonize in his sys- 
tem such as he can, and to leave the rest to other investigators, denying nothing because 
he cannot understand it, so it is the duty of the Bible student to accept the plain facts of 
Revelation, to interpret in accord such as he can, and to leave such as do not adjust 
themselves to his system for the study of those that will come after him. It is my simple 
endeavor in this work to unfold the meaning of the New Testament, passage by passage, 

1 See Section IV., on the Limits of Inspiration. 



34 THE GOSPELS. 

leaving to others to adjust the teachings in one harmonious whole. This is the work of 
the theologian, not of the commentator. The one constructs, the other simply gathers 
the materials. If there appear to be unreconciled views in the notes, there are also un- 
reconciled (I do not say irreconcilable) teachings in the Scripture text. 

10. Finally, there is no book that has been such a battle ground as the Bible. The 
great body of those who accept its teachings as adequate authority, agree in respect to 
the fundamental truths which it teaches ; the chief differences in interpretation are between 
Protestant students and Roman Catholic theologians on the one hand, who deny that it is 
adequate without the church, and Rationalistic students on the other, who deny that it is 
authoritative. Still there are passages concerning the interpretation of which there are 
important and honest differences of opinion between Congregational, Presbyterian, Epis- 
copalian, Baptist, and Methodist students. In respect to all the more important of such 
passages, where a reasonable room exists for a difference of interpretation, I have endea- 
vored to set forth the different opinions briefly, usually indicating my own conclusion. 
Whether I have succeeded or not in laying aside denominational bias, it is certain that the 
student who wishes to get, unmixed, the teachings of the Scripture, must disabuse his mind 
of theological prepossessions. An unprejudiced mind is as essential to a fruitful study of 
God's word as a clear lens to the telescopic study of the stars. Next to the prejudices 
bred of sinful habits and affections, those which spring from a determination to find in the 
Bible a support for a previously accepted system of doctrine, or a means of assault upon 
a system prejudged, are the most fatal to a true understanding of the Divine Word. We 
must approach that Word like little children, in that we must approach it, as they their 
early studies, with unbiased minds, ready to receive whatever our inspired Instructor has 
to teach us. 

That I have always succeeded in applying these principles I do not claim ; to those 
that would build their religious faith and life upon the Bible, and the Bible only, they 
are none the less sincerely commended, as the conditions of a successful study and inter- 
pretation of the Word of God. 



PART II. THE GOSPELS. 

I. Relation of the Gospels to Each Other. — The word Gospel is composed 
of two Anglo-Saxon words, God spel, meaning good news. It is a translation of a Greek 
word euaggelion {evayytliov). From a cognate word is derived our English word Evan- 
gelist, who is, literally, a messenger or herald of good news. The title, which is com- 
monly given to each of the first four books of the New Testament, is interpreted by, and 
perhaps derived from, the announcement by the angels to the shepherds of the birth of 
Jesus Christ : " Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy." ' The Gospel is, then, 
the announcement to the world of good news, namely, the advent, incarnation, crucifixion, 
and resurrection of One whose life is our example, and in whose death is our pardon, and 
whose perpetual spiritual presence is the source and the assurance of spiritual life, both 
here and in the hereafter, to all those who accept him. Thus the word Gospel accords with 
and carries out the idea embodied in the title New Testament, as explained above. 2 

A very marked difference is noticeable between the first three Gospels and the last. 
This difference is both external and internal. 

Matthew and Mark narrate chiefly Christ's ministry in Galilee, with only a brief account 
of teachings in Perea. 3 Luke narrates also the events and teachings in Galilee, but adds 

1 Luke 2 : 10 * See Part I., Section I s Matt., ch. 19 : — ; 90 : 16 ; Mark 10 : 1-31. 



EELATION OF THE GOSPELS TO EACH OTHER. 35 

several chapters devoted to the report of what I believe to have been his ministry in 
Perea. But no incident of his ministry in Judea is related by any one of the three. 
" Had we only their accounts," says Dean Alford, " we could never with any certainty 
have asserted that he went to Jerusalem during his public life, till his time was come to 
be delivered up." John's Gospel, on the other hand, is chiefly occupied with a narrative 
of the ministry in Judea. Only in the sixth chapter does he give any account of Christ's 
teachings in Galilee ; only in a sentence does he refer to a ministry in Perea. 1 The mira- 
cles he records as performed in Galilee are, with one exception, not mentioned by the 
other Evangelists ; 2 and the resurrection of Lazarus, the most remarkable of all the mira- 
cles, if a comparison can be instituted between them, is narrated only by him. The feed- 
ing of the five thousand is indeed narrated by John (ch. 6) in common with the others, 
but this is apparently only because it was the text to the discourse in the synagogue at 
Capernaum, which John alone reports. Even in the history of the Passion Week, where all 
the Evangelists narrate substantially the same events, a characteristic difference is observa- 
ble. Incidents which we should most expect to find in John's Gospel are omitted. He 
gives no account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, though fully and exclusively re- 
porting Christ's memorable discourse on that occasion, and makes no reference to the agony 
in Gethsemane, though he describes both Christ's going thither and his arrest there. A 
glance at the tabulated Harmony of the Gospels, given at the end of this Introduction, 
will further indicate to the reader how small a portion of the fourth Gospel is occupied with 
the narration of events or teachings given by the other Evangelists. I believe the expla- 
nation of this fact to be that John, who undoubtedly wrote after the others, had their 
narratives before him, and wrote to supply elements and incidents which they had 
omitted. But this view is by no means universally accepted. It is strenuously resisted 
by Alford. 

The difference in internal characteristics, between John and the other Evangelists, is 
even more remarkable. Matthew, Mark and Luke, are historians, John is a theologian ; 
they write simple historical narratives, he with a definite and an avowed doctrinal pur- 
pose ; they record most fully our Lord's life, he our Lord's teaching and character ; they 
rarely refer to our Lord's divine character and mission, except either by a reference to the 
fulfillment of ancient prophecy in him, or by the narration of his own teaching respecting 
himself, 3 John opens his gospel with what is, perhaps, the most explicit declaration to 
be found in Scripture of Christ's divinity, lingers reverentially over every utterance in 
which Christ brings to light this truth, hidden, for the most part, from common appre- 
hension during his earthly life, and closes his account by declaring that, from the various 
signs wrought by Jesus in the presence of his disciples, he has selected those written in 
this book, " that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that 
believing ye might have life through his name." 4 

The bearing of this contrast between John's Gospel and the other Gospels, on the 
authority of the former, will be considered hereafter. 6 It must suffice here to state the 
fact, as one to be constantly borne in mind, in studying the Gospel narratives. 

The first three Gospels are commonly known as the Synoptic Gospels, from the fact 
that, to a large extent, they cover the same ground, so that from a combination and com- 
parison of them, a synopsis of Christ's life, though not a complete or perfect one, may be 
obtained. 

These three Synoptic Gospels, however, by no means duplicate each other. Each con- 
tributes its own peculiar element. Referring the student to the sections below on the 

^ohn 10:40-42 2 John 2:1-12; 4:45-54 'Matt. 1:23; 16:16-20; 26:63,64 " Ch. 21 was 

probably added by John as an appendix some time after the completion of his Gospel " See Intro, to John's 

Gospel. * 



36 ■ THE GOSPELS. 

several Gospels, for a fuller account of their characteristics, we may here sum up the con- 
trasts between them in Bishop Ellicott's brief but admirable note. 1 

" (1.) In regard of the external features and characteristics, we are perhaps warranted 
in saying that (a) the point of view of the first gospel is mainly Israelitic ; of the second, 
Gentile; of the third, universal; of the fourth, Christian: that (6) the general aspect, and, 
so to speak, physiognomy of the first, is mainly Oriental; of the second, Roman; of the 
third, Greek ; of the fourth, spiritual : that (c) the style of the first is stately and rhythmical ; 
of the second, terse and precise ; of the third, calm and copious; of the fourth, artless and 
colloquial : that the most striking characteristic of the first is symmetry ; of the second, 
compression; of the third, order ; of the fourth, system : that (e) the thought and language 
of the first are both Hebraistic ; of the third, both Hellenistic ; while in the second the 
thought is often occidental, though the lauguage is Hebraistic ; and, in the fourth, the 
language Hellenistic, but the thought Hebraistic. (2.) Again, in respect of subject-matter 
and contents, we may say, perhaps, (a) that in the first gospel we have narrative ; in the 
second, memoirs ; in the third, history ; in the fourth, dramatic portraiture ; (&) that in 
the first we have often the record of events in their accomplishment ; in the second, 
events in their detail ; in the third, events in their connection ; in the fourth, events in 
relation to the teaching springing from them : that thus (c) in the first we more often meet 
with the notice of impressions ; in the second, of facts ; in the third, of motives ; in the 
fourth, of words spoken : and that, lastly, (d) the record of the first is mainly collective, 
and often antithetical ; of the second, graphic and circumstantial ; of the third, didactic 
and reflective ; of the fourth, selective and supplemental. (3.) We may conclude by saying 
that, in respect of the portraiture of our Lord, the first gospel presents him to us mainly 
as the Messiah ; the second, mainly as the God-man ; the third, as the Redeemer ; the 
fourth, as the only-begotten Son of God." 

II. Origin of the Gospels. — Whence did the Evangelists derive their informa- 
tion ? Matthew and John were eye and ear witnesses of the events and teachings which 
they recorded. Doubtless their personal recollection, quickened by the Spirit of God, 
was one chief source whence they derived their histories. But Luke and Mark were not 
of the Twelve. Moreover, there is, as already observed, a remarkable correspondence in 
the narratives of the Synoptic Gospels. Of Mark, nine-tenths; of Matthew, a little more 
than half; of Luke, a little less than half, is common to the other Evangelists. In some 
cases the parallel passages are almost identical in language ; more generally the resem- 
blance is substantial, not verbal. These facts indicate that the Evangelists employed, 
at least to some extent, the same sources of imformation, yet wrote independently of each 
other. To account for the resemblance between them, four hypotheses have been proposed : 
1. It has been suggested that the narrators made use of each other's work, and many 
have endeavored to ascertain which gospel is to be regarded as the first, which is copied 
from the first, and which is the last, and copied from the other two. But the theory, in 
its crude form, is in itself most improbable; and the wonder is that so much time and 
learning have been devoted to it. It assumes that an Evangelist has taken up the work 
of his predecessor, and, without substantial alteration, has made a few changes in form, a 
few additions and retrenchments, and then has allowed the whole to go forth under his 
name. 

2. It has been suggested that there may have been a common original gospel, since 
extinct, from which the three gospels were drawn, each with more or less modification. 
But if all the Evangelists had agreed to draw from a common original, it must have been 
widely, if not universally, accepted in the Church ; and yet there is no record of its 

1 Ellicott's Life of Christ, p. 46, note. 



ORIGIN OF THE GOSPELS. 37 

existence. If the work was of high authority, it would have been preserved, or at least 
mentioned; if of lower authority, it could not have become the basis of three canonical 
gospels. Nor is it easy to see why, if the Evangelists were transcribers, they should have 
made such remarkable modifications in the work from which they copied. 

3. It has been surmised that our Lord spoke in the Greek language ; that the Evan- 
gelists reported him independently, but reporting the same words, naturally repeated each 
other in many cases. It is true that the most notable verbal agreements in the Synoptists 
are in their reports of the sayings of our Lord ; but that he spoke in Aramaic, is implied 
by Mark, 1 and it is almost certain that Aramaic was the language of the common people, 
to whom he addressed himself. Nor does this hypothesis suggest any explanation of the 
source whence Mark and Luke derived their knowledge. 

4. The fourth hypothesis, the one which is now generally adopted by the most 
advanced Christian scholars, and which I think the most probable, is that the three 
Evangelists, in the preparation of their respective Gospels, made use of what is termed an 
"oral Gospel." This hypothesis — and the reader must bear in mind it is only that — 
may be thus stated : 2 

The apostles were chosen by Christ to be his companions while he lived, in order to 
be the personal witnesses of his life, his death, and his resurrection. Almost immediately 
after his ascension they were scattered abroad. Driven out from Jerusalem by the Provi- 
dence of God, they went forth, we are told, " preaching the Gospel." 3 This preaching 
of the Gospel was not with them, as it is with us, the unfolding of a system of truth, or 
its application to the heart and life of believers. It was just what the original words sig- 
nify, a heralding of good tidings. The early disciples went forth as witnesses to the fact that 
the Messiah had come; and their preaching at first consisted chiefly in a simple description 
of the life, death, and resurrection of their Lord, a simple narration of the mighty works 
by which he had authenticated his divine mission, and to which the apostles especially 
w y ere personal witnesses. This historic character of their preaching is illustrated by the 
few glimpses of it which we obtain in the Book of Acts, 4 and is further indicated by the 
fact that when the history to which they had been witnesses had become generally 
accepted, their mission appears to have come- to an end. Of them all, John and Peter 
alone appear in subsequent New Testament history, as either theologians or ecclesiastical 
organizers. The result of their witness-bearing, taken up and repeated by others, would 
be, in a brief space of time, a generally accepted belief in respect to the fundamental facts, 
and the more important teachings of Jesus Christ. But this belief, though widespread, 
would not be systematized. Different localities and different churches would become 
possessed of different fragments of the whole, and in forms more or less diverse. When 
at length, however, the church began to spread from Judea into Greece, and Asia, and 
Africa, both the churches and the apostles would become sensible of the need of some 
more permanent record of this oral Gospel, this good news, and the demand and the 
supply would spring up together. Those less adapted to the work of oral teaching would 
reduce the current traditions to writing. And gathering their information from this 
common source, we should expect to find in their accounts a certain similarity in sub- 

1 Mark 5 : 41 ; 7 : 34, note? ' For a fuller exposition and defence of it, consult Alford's Greek Testa- 
ment, Prolegomena, and Westcott's Introduction to the Study of the Gospels ' Acts 8:4; 11 : 19-21. 

* The same cardinal events which are described with the greatest fullness in the written Gospels are noticed 
with the most minute detail in the speeches in the Acts : the betrayal (2 : 23) : the condemnation by the San- 
hedrim (13 : 27) ; the failure of the charge (13 : 28) ; the condemnation by Pilate (3 : 13), and by Herod (4 : 27) ; the 
choice of Barabbas (3 : 14) ; the urgency of the people and rulers at Jerusalem (13 : 27, 28) ; the crucifixion (4 : 10 ; 
5 : 30 ; 10 : 39) ; by the hand of Gentiles (4 : 27, 28) ; the burial (13 ; 29) ; the resurrection on the third day (10 : 40) ; 
the manifestation to fore-ordained witnesses (10 : 41). for many days (13 : 31), who did eat and drink with him 
after he rose (10 : 41) ; the charge to the apostles (10 : 42) ; the ascension to the right hand of God (2 : 33 ; 3 : 21)." 
— Westcott on the Study of the Gospels. 



38 THE GOSPELS. 

stance, indicative of their common means of information, and certain discrepancies of 
form, indicative of the differences in the respective writers and in the different phases of 
the current faith to which they had access. If we were to suppose that this oral tradition 
was not embodied in written narratives till after the death of the apostles, we might con- 
sider the authority of the Gospels questionable. But if, as I believe, our Gospels were all 
of them written by contemporaries of our Lord, two of them by his life-companions, the 
third (the Gospel of Mark) partially under the guidance of an apostle (Peter), and all of them 
under the inspiration of God, there is nothing in this supposition of common origin in an 
oral Gospel to weaken, in the least, their credibility. Their authenticity is further assured 
by the consideration that after they were written and were current in the churches, John 
wrote his Gospel, and could and presumably would have corrected any material errors if 
they had contained any. 

The following considerations render this hypothesis a reasonable and probable one. 

It is the customary method of preparing history or biography. The conscientious 
modern biographer visits the most familiar friends of the subject of his work, gains by 
conversation with them the various incidents in the life to be described, and the traits in 
the character to be portrayed, and, even if himself a companion and friend, enlarges and 
corrects his own knowledge by such an examination of oral tradition. In the absence of 
evidence to the contrary, this customary method may be presumed to have been pursued 
by the Evangelists. It best explains the verbal discrepancies and substantial harmony 
of the three Synoptic Gospels, and accords with their broken, unchronological, and frag- 
mentary character. It accords with Luke's explicit statement of the sources of informa- 
tion whence he derived his own Gospel. 1 The early post-apostolic writers refer to such 
an oral tradition as one of the sources of information in their own day. Thus Irenseus 
distinctly states that the great outlines of the Life of Christ were received by the barba- 
rous nations, without written documents, by ancient tradition ; and Papias similarly refers 
to his personal research among the traditions of his own day respecting the apostles and 
their teachings. The existence and importance of such a body of tradition appears thus 
to be well authenticated. 

I believe, then, with Dean Alford, " that the Synoptic Gospels contain the substance 
of the apostles' testimony, collected principally from their oral teaching current in the 
church, partly also from written documents embodying portions of that teaching ; that 
there is, however, no reason from their internal structure to believe, but every reason to 
disbelieve, that any one of the three Evangelists had access to either of the other two 
Gospels in its present form; " to which I add that in their use of this "oral Gospel" the 
Evangelists were aided either by their own personal recollections, as in the cases of 
Matthew and John, or in part by that and in part by the personal recollections of one or 
more of the apostles, as in the case of Mark, and perhaps of Luke ; that they wrote and pub- 
lished during the lifetime of the apostles, and when therefore any errors, if there had been 
any, would have received correction ; and, finally, that John's Gospel was written some 
time after the three Synoptic Gospels, with the knowledge of their contents, and in part 
to supply elements which were wanting in them, and which were necessary to a full com- 
prehension of Christ's character and mission. 

III. Harmony of the Gospels. — No one of the Gospels gives a connected and 
chronological life of Jesus Christ. They are not biographies, but biographical memora- 
bilia ; not connected histories, but collections of the teachings and the events in the life 
of Jesus of Nazareth. No one of them follows a chronological order ; no one of them 
gives a single date. Even the years of Christ's birth and death are left uncertain. Their 

1 Luke 1 : 1-4. 



HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 39 

records are in these respects exactly what their origin, an oral Gospel, and the inspiration 
of their writers, moral, not verbal, would lead us to expect. 1 

There are, consequently, numerous discrepancies between the Gospel narratives. 
These are of several descriptions. Sometimes one EvaDgelist simply omits events recorded 
by another. Thus Mark gives no hint of the Sermon on the Mount, and no one of the 
Synoptists mentions the resurrection of Lazarus. Sometimes the order indicated in one 
narrative is different from that indicated in another. Thus if we only had Matthew's 
Gospel we should presume that the healing of the leper was performed immediately after 
the Sermon on the Mount, while Mark indicates another and a more probable time. 2 
Sometimes the discrepancy is only apparent, not real. Thus Luke mentions the ordina- 
tion of the twelve apostles in connection with the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew gives 
their names in connection with the subsequent commission to preach the Gospel through- 
out Galilee. A careless or casual reader might easily imagine the accounts to be dis- 
crepant, though they are so only in appearance. Sometimes the difference is simply one 
of language. Thus the four accounts of the inscription over the cross differ in phrase- 
ology, as do the three accounts of the stilling of the tempest in their reports of the 
language of the disciples in awakening our Lord, and of his language in reply. 3 Some- 
times the discrepancy is such as would naturally arise from a difference in the point of 
view of the observers. Thus the variations in the four accounts of the arrest of Jesus 
Christ are just such as would naturally arise in reporting such a scene of confusion. 
Again, the accounts of the birth of Jesus given by Matthew and Luke are entirely differ- 
ent, but not inconsistent, one Evangelist recording one class of incidents, the other a dif- 
ferent class. There are a few discrepancies which, with our limited knowledge, it is 
difficult or perhaps impossible completely to remove. Such is the apparent difference 
between John and the Synoptists as to the true occasion of the Lord's Supper. 4 There 
are others which were formerly a serious stumbling-block to the Christian, but in which 
a fuller knowledge has discovered singular evidences of the truthfulness of Scripture. 
Such is the seeming geographical discrepancy in the narrative of the miraculous cure of 
the demoniac, which Matthew describes as performed in the "land of the Gergesenes," 
and Mark and Luke in the " land of the Gadarenes." 5 A careful comparative study of 
the four Gospels may not afford a satisfactory solution of all these ajiparent discrepancies, but 
it will conduct the conscientious and unprejudiced student to the conclusion of Dean 
Alford, who gives, indeed, undue weight to these natural variations in the Evangelists' 
narratives, but who says : " We may be sure that if we knew the real process of the trans- 
actions themselves, that knowledge would enable us to give an account of the diversities 
of narration and arrangement which the Gospels now present to us." 

In conducting such an investigation the following principles are to be borne in mind 
by the student : 

1. The true chronological order of Christ's life is not to be found in any one Gospel, 
but is to be ascertained, if at all, by a comparison of the four accounts. It must often be 
only a matter of surmise. 

2. No one of the Evangelists ordinarily gives a literal report of the language used. 
The habit of ancient authors was to embody in dramatic forms the substance of the inci- 
dent narrated. Of this literary habit not only the ancient histories, as Caesar and Sallust, 
but the Old Testament also, furnish many examples. 6 Where a modern historian, narrat- 
ing the stilling of the tempest, would say, " The disciples awoke Christ and reproached 

1 See above pages 2 See Matt. 8 : 1, note 3 See Mark 4 : 35-41, notes * See note on the Lord's 

Sapper, Matt. 26 : 12, 13, 30 5 See for explanation of this discrepancy Matt. 8 : 28, note. 

Thus, " God said, ' Let there be light.'" To whom should he say it? This is evidently simply a dra- 
matic and graphic portraiture of the act of divine creative will. So throughout the O. T. history the conferences 
are given, not in the manner of a modern historian, but in a dialogue form. 



40 THE GOSPELS. 

him for his indifference to their danger," the Evangelists put the language of reproach 
into the disciples' mouths, in forms verbally different, and representing slightly different 
shades of feeling. 

3. Christ often repeated substantially the same teaching, and often, apparently, clothed 
it in the same words. Certain aphorisms became even characteristic of his teaching. 
Moreover, to meet the same or similar needs, he repeated, on different occasions, substan- 
tially the same miracle of mercy. Thus the denouncing of the Pharisees reported by 
Matthew, in chap. 23, is in some sense a repetition of the previous philippic reported in 
Luke, chap. 11, and the feeding of the four thousand in Matt. 15 : 32-39 is in almost all 
respects a repetition of the previous feeding of the five thousand, reported in chap. 14 : 
15-21. 

4. Hence we often find the same event or teaching reported by different Evangelists, in 
phraseology and in chronological connections slightly different ; and we also find teach- 
ings and miracles similar, yet not to be confounded, occurring on different occasions ; and 
again we find some cases in which it is not easy to determine whether the two accounts 
are of the same or of different events. In general we may say that when the differences 
are merely verbal and chronological it is probable that the event is the same, only the 
narrative different; but that when the end or object in view, or the important circum- 
stances, are different, the events are not to be regarded as identical because similar in cer- 
tain minor or external respects. Thus, to suppose that Christ healed one blind man as 
he entered Jericho and two as he went out of it, in order to reconcile the discrepant 
accounts of Luke 18 : 35, etc., and Matt. 20 : 29, etc., is as unreasonable and improbable on 
the one side, as to suppose that the anointing described in Luke 7 : 36-50 and Matt. 26 : 6-13 
are the same, because in both cases performed at a supper table and by a woman. 

5. It is possible to determine with tolerable accuracy what were the great eras of 
Christ's life, what its outlines, what the general course and development of his ministry, 
and of the opposition which ended in his death. But the chronological order of the spe- 
cific events and teachings which belong in the several eras must probably always be 
largely a matter of conjecture. 

Applying these principles, we give, for the aid of such as wish to study the life of 
Christ in its connections, a sketch of that life in outline, and add, at the close of this 
Introduction, a tabulated harmony of the Gospels, cautioning the student that the latter, 
in its arrangement in detail of the Gospel narratives, represents only the best conjectures 
of Bible students. 

IV. The Life off Christ. — The life of Christ may be divided into eight eras, as 
follows : His birth and early education ; the inauguration of his public ministry ; his min- 
istry in Galilee ; his period of retirement ; his ministry in Judea ; his ministry in Perea ; 
his Passion ; his Resurrectiou. His birth probably took place four years before the time 
indicated by our present chronology, i. e. , B. C. 4 ; his baptism at thirty years of age, 
A. D. 26 ; and his death, after a ministry of between three and four years, A. D. 30. 1 

1. His birth and education. — He is born in Bethlehem, whither his mother and reputed 
father have come from Galilee, on the taking of a census. From Bethlehem he is taken 
to Egypt, to escape the malice of Herod the Great, and on the king's death is carried to 
Nazareth in Galilee. Here he dwells till his manhood. Only one incident of his youth 
is narrated, viz., his disputing with the doctors in the Temple. 2 Matthew (chaps. 1, 2) 
and Luke (chaps. 1, 2) narrate Christ's birth, each of them incidents apparently unknown 
to the other. 

1 For a fuller sketch of the Life of Christ, from which this epitome is taken, see Ahbott's Dictionary of 
Religious Knowledge, article Jesus. See also Ahbott's Jesus of Nazareth a Luke 2 : 40-52. 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 



41 



2. The inauguration of Ms pullic ministry. — He first enters upon his life-work by 
receiving baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, in the Jordan ; prepares for it by his 
mysterious experience of temptation in the wilderness ; signalizes it by his attendance on 
and miracle at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, and his expulsion of the traders from 
the temple at Jerusalem. Here, in conversation with Nicodemus, he reveals privately the 
truths of atonement and regeneration, which are not publicly preached till much later. 
But he does not commence the public preaching of the Gospel till the arrest and impris- 
onment of John the Baptist, some months subsequent, though one miracle and some 
teaching in Samaria, consequent upon his conversation with the woman at the well, are 
recorded by John. This era is reported by Matt., chaps. 3, 4 : 1-11 ; Mark 1 : 1-13 ; Luke, 
chaps. 3, 4 : 1-13 ; and John, chaps. 1 to 4. To this period belong the journeys 1, 2, 3, and 
4 on the accompanying map. 




Sketch Map Illustrating the Jotjkneyings 
or Our Lord. 



Reference. 

1 and 2. First journeys: 

Nazareth, Bethany, beyond Jor- 
dan, Desert of Temptation. Re- 
turn : Bethany, beyond Jordan, 
Capernaum, Nazareth. 

3. First Passover : 

Nazareth, Jerusalem. Return 
through Judea and Samaria (Si- 
chem, Jacob's Well), Cana, Naza- 
reth. 

4. To Capernaum, &c. : 

Nazareth, Capernaum (dwelling 
there). 

5. Feast of Purim : 

Capernaum, Nazareth, Nain, 
Bethany, Jerusalem. Return to 
Capernaum. 

6. In Galilee, &c. : 

Capernaum, Bethsaida - Julias, 
Capernaum, Borders of Tyre and 
Sidon, Coasts of Decapolis, Coun- 
try of Dalmanutha, Bethsaida-Ju- 
lias, Caesarea-Philippi, Mount Ta- 
bor, Capernaum. 

7. Feast of Tabernacles : 

Capernaum, Borders of Samaria, 
Jerusalem. Return to Perea. 

8. Feast of the Dedication, &c. : 

Perea, Jerusalem, Bethany, 
Ephraim, Jericho. 

9. Last Passover : 

Jericho, Bethany, Jerusalem. 



3. His ministry in Galilee. — He begins his ministry by preaching a sermon at Nazareth, 
where he is mobbed, and whence he departs to make Capernaum his home; calls four 
disciples by the seashore to follow him ; then Matthew ; then the rest of the twelve. 
These he ordains, and to them, in the Sermon on the Mount, he explains the fundamental 
principles of his kingdom. During this ministry he attends the Passover at Jerusalem, 



42 THE GOSPELS. 

where, by his healing on the Sabbath, the first open opposition to him and his teaching is 
excited. He then returns to Galilee ; his ministry there is one of constantly increasing 
popularity, though also of increasing opposition, mainly stimulated by emissaries from 
Judea. He begins to employ parables, as a means of interpreting the nature of the king- 
dom he had before simply announced. He commissions his apostles to preach it also, and 
by their aid the Gospel is proclaimed throughout all Galilee. At length the popular 
enthusiasm reaches its height in a determination to make him king by force ; he declares, 
in the sermon which John alone (chap. 6) has reported, the spiritual character of his 
kingdom, and the self-sacrifice it entails; the popular feeling, tested by this revelation, 
proves itself untrustworthy ; many that were inclined to follow abandon him, and his 
public ministry in Galilee comes to an end. This period of Christ's ministry is reported 
by Matt., chap. 4 : 13 to chap. 15 : 20; Mark, chap. 1 to chap. 7 : 23; and Luke. chap. 
4 : 14 to chap. 9 : 17. John reports Christ's journey to Jerusalem to attend the Passover, 
and his miracle of feeding the five thousand and subsequent sermon thereon, but nothing 
else of this period of his life. 1 To this period belong the largest number of our Lord's 
miracles, and his simplest and most fundamental teaching, and most of his longest public 
discourses, j>articularly the Sermon on the Mount, the Parables by the sea-shore, and the 
Sermon or Commission to the twelve. 

4. The period of Mb retirement.— After the close of his ministry in Galilee, Christ spends 
a few brief months in retirement with his disciples, during which time he visits succes- 
sively the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, the region about Cesarea Philippi, and the eastern 
coast of the Sea of Galilee. The miracles performed during this time are comparatively 
few, and are kept, as far as practicable, from public notice ; the indications of a constant 
endeavor to avoid the people are many ; and the instructions are chiefly in private, to the 
twelve, and concerning the principles which are to actuate them in the future conduct of 
the church. To this period belongs the healing of the Syro-Phcenician woman's daughter, 
Peter's confession of our Lord's divinity, the Transfiguration, and the feeding of the four 
thousand. The accounts of it are found in Matthew, chap. 15 : 21 to chap. 19 ; Mark, 
chap. 7 : 24 to chap. 9; Luke, chap. 9 : 18-62. John does not refer to any portion of 
it. This and the previous era include the journeys marked 5 and 6 on the accompanying 
map, and all the journeys indicated on the Map of the Sea of Gennesaret which accompanies 
Mark, chap. 1. 

5. The ministry in Judea. — This lasted for three months, from the feast of Tabernacles 
in October, to the feast of Dedication in December. It is reported exclusively by John, 
chap. 7 : 1 to chap. 10 : 39, unless, as may be the case, the parables of the Good Samaritan, 
and the Pharisee and Publican, and the incident in the house of Martha and Mary 2 belong- 
to the same epoch. 

6. The ministry in Perea. — This name was given to all that part of Palestine which 
lay beyond the Jordan. It was occupied by a population partly Jewish, partly heathen. 
Driven out of Jerusalem I believe that Jesus went into Perea, where he prosecuted his 
ministry duiing the winter months, and where he commissioned the seventy to aid him, as 
before in Galilee he had commissioned the twelve. This is a more probable account of 
his life than that which supposes his retirement to Galilee and the resumption of his 
teaching there, after he had turned his back upon it and pronounced his denunciation 
upon the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. According to this view the chief 
portion of the teachings and events recorded in Luke, chap. 10 to chap. 18 : 34, together 
with those recorded in Matthew, chap. 19 : 1 to chap. 20 : 16, and Mark 10 : 1-31, belong to 
this period. From the ministry in Perea Christ was called by the intelligence of the sickness 
of Lazarus, and after the resurrection of Lazarus, recorded alone by John, chap. 11, retired 

1 John, chaps. 5 and 6 a Luke 10 : 25-12 ; 18 ; 9-14. 



THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 43 

to Epbraim, where he remained till the time for his Passion had arrived. The journeys 
marked 7 and 8 on the map, belong to this and the previous era, though I do not agree 
with the map in supposing that Christ went at this time into Galilee, a supposition which 
is not supported by evidence. 

7. The Passion week. — The events of this week are recorded by all the Evangelists. 
Christ's triumphal entry into the city took place on Sunday. The two following days, 
Monday and Tuesday, were occupied with the instructions in the Temple, reported most 
fully by Matthew, ending with a terrible denunciation of the Pharisees, and followed by 
a prophecy, given to the disciples alone, of the impending destruction of Jerusalem and 
Judaism. These discourses are much more fully reported by Matthew than by Mark or 
Luke. Wednesday was spent in retirement at Bethany, at which time, as I think, the 
supper was given to Christ and he was anointed by Mary, his rebuke of Judas Iscariot 
at that time being the immediate occasion of the latter's treachery. The Passover supper 
with the twelve in Jerusalem, took place on Thursday evening, and was followed by the 
agony in Getbsemane, the arrest, the mock trial, and finally the crucifixion on Friday. 
Compare for accounts of this week, Matthew, chaps. 21 to 27; Mark, chaps. 11 to 15; 
Luke, chap. 19 : 29 to chap. 23; John 12 to 19. 

8. The Resurrection. — The accounts of the resurrection are given by Matthew, chap. 
28 ; Mark, chap. 16 ; Luke, chap. 24 ; and John, chaps. 20, 21. 

These outlines of Christ's life I believe to be tolerably clear and certain. For the 
more detailed harmony of the Gospels, and the probable though confessedly conjectural 
order of the events narrated, the student is referred to the following Harmony, which, 
however, he must remember is largely conjectural. 



TABULAR HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS. 

Where the same incident or teaching is treated by more than one of the Synoptic Evangelists in substantially 
the same manner, the notes are given in full in one Gospel, and only peculiarities of statement or diction are 
treated in the other. In this table the black-faced type indicates that the reader may expect to find full 
notes on the passage so marked. The notes on John are lull throughout. 

I. BIRTH AND EDUCATION. From b.c. 6 to a.d. 8* 



" The Word " 

Preface, to Theophilus 

Annunciation of the Baptist's birth. . 
Annunciation of the birth of Jesus... 

Mary visits Elizabeth 

Birth of John the Baptist 

Birth of Jesus Christ 

Two Genealogies 

The watching Shepherds 

The Circumcision. 

Presentation in the Temple 

The wise men from the East 

Flight to Egypt 

Disputing with the Doctors 



Jerusalem. 
Nazareth. 
Juttah. 

Bethlehem. 

Bethlehem. 
Jerusalem. 

Bethlehem. 

Jerusalem. 



18-25. 
1-17. 



1-12. 
13-23. 



1-4. 

5-35. 

26-38. 

39-56. 

57-80. 

1-7. 

23-38. 

8-20. 

21. 

22-38. 

39- 



1 : 1-14 



II. INAUGURATION OF PUBLIC MINISTRY. 
Jordan. 



From Summer, a.d. 



2 : 40-52. 

26, to Dec, a.d. 27. 



Ministry of John the Baptist 

Baptism of Jesus Christ 

The Temptation 

Andrew and another see Jesus 

Simon, now Cephas (Peter) 

Philip and Nathanael 

The water made wine 

Passover (1st) and cleansing the Temple 

Nicodemus 

Christ's disciples and John baptizing. . . 
The woman of Samaria 



Jordan. 

"(?) 
Cana. 
Jerusalem. 

Jordan. 
Samaria. 



1-12. 

13-17. 

1-11. 



9-11. 
12, 13. 



3 : 1-18. 

3 : 21, 22. 

4 : 1-13- 



III. MINISTRY IN GALILEE. From March, a.d. 28, to Summer, 

Machaerus. 4 : 12 ; 14 : 3.1 1 : 14 ; 6 : 17. 3 
Galilee. 4 : 12. 1 : 14, 15. 



John the Baptist in prison 

Return to Galilee 

The nobleman's son 

Capernaum. Four Apostles called 

Demoniac healed there 

Simon's wife's mother healed 

First Circuit round Galilee 

Healing a leper 

Healing the paralytic 

Journey to Jerusalem to 2d Passover. . 

Pool of Bethesda.. Power of Christ 

Plucking ears of corn on Sabbath 

The withered hand. Miracles 

Matthew the Publican 

" Thy disciples fast not " 

Jairus's daughter. Woman healed 

Blind men, and demoniac 

The Sermon on the Mount 

The Centurion's servant 

The widow's son at Nain 

Messengers from John 

Woe to the cities of Galilee 

Call to the meek and suffering 

Anointing the feet of Jesus 

Second Circuit round Galilee 

Parable of the Sower 

" Candle under a Bushel.. 

" Growth of Seed 

" Wheat and Tares 

" Grain of Mustard Seed. . 

" Leaven 

On teaching by parables 

Wheat and tares explained 

The treasure, the pearl, the net 

Conditions of following Christ 

Christ stills the storm 

Demoniacs in land of Gi larenes 

Healing of Demoniac and discourse I 
thereon ( 



Jerusalem. 
Galilee. 



4 : 13-22. 



14-17. 
23-25. 
1-4. 



Sea of Galilee. 
Galilee. 



9 : 1-8. 



12 : 1-8. 
12 : 9-21. 
9 : 9-13. 
9 : 14-17. 
9: 18-26. 
9 : 27-34. 
5:lto7:29, 
8 : 5-13. 

11 : 2-i9. 
11 : 20-24. 
11 : 25-30. 



13 : 1-23. 



13 : 24-30. 
13 : 31, 32. 
13:33. 
13 : 34, 35. 
13 : 36-43. 
13 : 44-52. 
8 : 19-22. 
8 : 23-27. 

8 : 28-34. 
12 : 22-45. 



I : 16-20. 

1 : 21-28. 
1 : 29-34. 
1 : 35-39. 

1 : 40-45. 

2 : l-'JZ. 



2 : 23-28. 

3 : 1-12. 
2 : 13-17. 

2 : 18-22, 

5 : 21-43. 

3 •• I3-I9- 



4 : 1-20. 

4 : 21-25. 
4 : 26-29. 

4 : 30-32- 

4 : 33> 34- 



4 : 35-41- 

5 : 1-20. 

3 : 20-30. 



A.D. 29. 
19, 20. 



: 1-11. 

3J-37- 
38-41. 
42-44. 
12-16. 
17-26. 



i-5- 

6-n. 

27-32. 

33-39- 
40-56. 

12-49. 



II-I7. 

18-35. 



• 36-50. 
: 1-3. 

: 4-J5- 
: 16-18. 



18, 19. 
20, 21. 



: 57-62. 

: 22-25. 
: 26 39. 

: 14-26. 



1 : 15-31. 

1 .- 32-34. 

1 : 35-40. 
1 : 41, 42. 

1 : 43-51. 

2 : 1-11. 

2 : 12-22. 

2:23to3:21. 

3 : 22-36. 
4 : 1-42. 



3:24. 

4 : 43-45. 
4 : 46-54. 



5:1. 

5 : 2-47 



4 : 46-54 



* This chronology assumes, with Andrews, that Christ was born b.c. 4. See Matt. 1 : 18, note. It follows Andrews, " Life of our Lord." 



TABULAR HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 



45 



MINISTRY AT GALILEE— Continued. 





Location. 


Matthew. 


Mask. 


Luke. 


John. 




Galilee. 

Machaerus. 
Galilee. 


12 : 46-50. 

13 : 53-58. 
9 : 35-38. 

10 to 11: 1. 

14 : 1, 2 
14 : 3-12. 

14: 13-21. 

14 : 22-28. 
14 : 28-32. 
14 : 34-36. 

15 : 1-20. 


3 : 31-35. 

6 : 1-6. 
6: 6. 
6 : 7-13. 
6 : 14-16. 
6 : 17-29. 

6 : 30-44. 
6 : 45-52- 

6 : 53-56. 

7 : 1-23. 


8 : 19-21. 

4 : 14-32. 

9 : 1-6. 

9 : 7-9. 

9 : 10-17. 


















6 : 4- 




6 : 1 15. 


Peter's attempt to walk on the sea.. . . 


6 : 16-21- 


The bread of life 


6 : 22-65. 







IV. PERIOD OF RETIREMENT. 



Phoenicia. 
Galilee. 



The Syro-Phcenician woman 

Miracles of healing 

Feeding of the four thousand 

The sign from heaven 

The leaven of the Pharisees 

Blind man healed 

Peter's profession of faith 

The Passion foretold 

The Transfiguration 

Elijah 

The lunatic healed 

The Passion again foretold , 

Fish caught for the tribute 

The little child 

One casting out devils 

Offences 

The lost sheep 

Forgiveness of injuries 

Binding and loosing 

Forgiveness. Parable 

" Salted with fire " 

Fire from heaven Samaria. 



16 

16: 
17: 
17 

17 
17 
17 
18 



13-20. 

21-28. 

1-9. 

10-13. 

14-21. 

22, 23. 

24-27. 

1-5. 



18 : 6-9. 
18 : 10-14. 
18 : 15-17. 
18 : 18-20. 
18 : 21-35. 



7 : 24-30. 

7 : 31-37. 



From Summer, a.d. 29, to Fall, a.d. 29. 
15 : 21-28. 
15 : 29-31. 

15 : 32-39. 8 : 1-9. 

16 : 1-4. 8 : 10-13. 
16 : 5-12. 8 : 14-21. 

8 : 22-26. 

8 : 27-29. 9 : 18-20. 

8 : 30 to 9 : 

g : 2-10. 



11-13. 

14-29. 
30-32. 



9 : 33-37- 
9 : 38-41. 
9 : 42-48. 



9 : 49, 50. 



9 : 21-27. 

9 : 28-36. 



9 : 37-42. 
9 : 43-45- 



: 46-40. 
49, 5°. 



9 : 51-56. 



Going to Jerusalem 

Discussions at Feast of Tabernacles. .. 

Woman taken in adultery 

Dispute with the Pharisees 

The man born blind 

The good Shepherd 

Feast of Dedication 



V. MINISTRY IN JUDEA. 
Jerusalem. 



From Oct. to Dec, a.d. 29. 



MINISTRY IN PEREA. 
Perea. 



a - a 



S 6" S !r 



VI 

Beyond Jordan 

The Seventy disciples 

The Good Samaritan 

Mary and Martha 

Discourses of Jesus : time and occa- | 
sion uncertain j 

Woman healed on Sabbath 

" Are there few that be saved ? " 

Warning against Herod 

Instructions at a Pharisee's house 

Following Christ with the Cross 

Parables of Lost Sheep, Piece of I 
Money, Prodigal Son, Unjust Stew- V 
ard, Rich Man and Lazarus ) 

Forgiveness and faith 

The ten lepers 

How the kingdom cometh 

Parable of the Unjust Judge 

11 Pharisee and Publican. . 

Divorce 

Infants brought to Jesus 

The rich man inquiring 

Promises to the disciples 

Laborers in the vineyard 

Raising of Lazarus 

Meeting of the Sanhedrim 

Christ in Ephraim 

Death of Christ foretold 

Request of James and John I " 

Blind man at Jericho Jericho 

Parable of the Ten Pounds '.'.'.'. 1 '.'.'.'.'.".'. \ " 



From Dec, a.d. 29, to March, a.d. 30, 



Bethany. 

Jerusalem. 

Judea. 



19 : 1-12. 
19 : 13-15. 
19 : 16-26. 

19 . 27-30. 

20 : 1-16. 



20 : 17-19. 
20 : 20-28. 
20 : 29-34. 



10 : 1-12. 
10 : 13-16. 
10 : 17-27. 
10 : 28-31. 



jo : 32-34. 
*o : 35-45- 
10 : 46-52. 



10 : 1-24. 

10 : 25-37. 
10 : 38-42. 
I 11 : 37 to 

1 13 : 9. 
13 : 10-17. 
13 : 22-30. 

13 : 31-35. 

14 : 1-24. 
14 : 25-35. 

chs. 15, 16. 



1-10. 

11-19. 

20-37. 

1-8. 

9-14. 



18 : 15-17- 
18 : 18-27. 
18 : 28-30. 



18 : 31-34. 

18 : 35-43. 

19 : 1-10. 
19 : 11-28. 



6 : 66-71. 



7 : 1-10- 

7 : 11-53. 
8:1-11. 

8 : 12-59. 

9 : 1-41. 
.0 : 1-21. 
.0 : 22-39. 



10 : 40-42. 



11 : 1-44. 
11 : 45-53. 
11 : 54-57- 



46 



TABULAE HARMONY OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 



VII. PASSION WEEK. From Sunday, z April, to Friday, 7 April, a.d. 30. 



Christ enters J erusalem 

Cleansing of the Temple (2d) 

The barren fig-tree 

Pray, and forgive 

" By what authority," etc 

Parable of the Two Sons 

" " Wicked Husbandmen. 

" " Wedding Garment . . . 

The tribute-money 

The state of the risen 

The great Commandment 

David's Son arid David's Lord 

Against the Pharisees 

The widow's mite 

Greeks visit Jesus. Voice from heaven 

Reflections of John 

Christ's second coming 

Parable of the Ten Virgins 

" " Talents 

The last Judgment 

The anointing by Mary 

Plot against Jesus and Lazarus 

Last Passover (4th). Jews conspire 

Judas Iscariot 

Paschal Supper 

Contention of the Apostles 

Peter's fall foretold 

Last Discourse 

The prayer of Christ 

Gethsemane 

The betrayal 

Before Caiaphas. Peter's denial 

Before the Sanhedrim 

Before Pilate 

The Traitor's death 

Before Herod 



Bethany. 
Jerusalem. 



Accusation and condemnation 

The daughters of Jerusalem. . . 

The Crucifixion 

The penitent thief 

Darkness and other portents. . . 

The by-standers 

The side pierced 

The burial 



The guard of the sepulchre, 



Jerusalem. 



21 : i-n. 
21 : 12-16. 

21 : 17-22. 



21 : 23-27. 
21 : 28-32. 

21 : 33-46. 

22 : 1-14. 
22 : 15-22. 
22 : 23-33. 
22 : 34-40. 

22 : 41-46. 

23 : 1-39. 



24 ■ 1-51. 

25 : 1-13. 
25 : 14-30. 

25 : 31-46. 

26 : 6-13. 

26:1-5. 
26 : 14-16. 
26 : 17-30. 

26:' 31-35. 



26 : 36-46. 

26 : 47-56. 
J 26 : 57, 58, 
1 69-75. 

26 : 59-68. 
I 27 : 1, 2, 

1 ll-i4. 

27 : 3-10. 

27 : 15-26. 

27 :' 27-50. 

27 :' 45-53. 
27 : 54-56. 

27:57-61. 
( 27 : 62-66 ; 
128: 11-15. 



11 : 15-18. 
(11:12-14, 
1 20-23. 
11 : 24-26. 

11 : 27-33. 

12 : 1-12. 

12 : 13-17. 
12 : 18-27. 
12 : 28-34. 
12 : 35-37- 
12 : 38-40. 

12 : 41-44. 



14 : 1, 2. 
14 : 10, 11. 
14 : 12-26. 



14 : 32-42. 

14 : 43-52- 

14 : 53, 54, 

66-72. 

14 : 55-65. 

15 : i-5- 



15 : 6-15- 

15 : 16-37. 

15 : 38-41- 
15 : 39-41. 

15 : 42-47. 



19 : 29-44. 

19 : 45-48. 



20 : 9-19. 
14 : 16-24. 
20 : 20-26. 



: 41-44. 
: 45-47- 
: 1-4. 



21 : 5-38- 



7 : 36-5°- 



22 : 1, 2. 

22 : 3-6. 
22 : 7-23, 
22 : 24-30. 

22 : 31-39. 



22 : 40-46. 
22 : 47-53- 
22 : 54-62. 

22 : 63-71. 

23 : 1-3. 

23 :'i-ii. 

23 : I3-2S- 
23 : 26-32. 
23 : 3^-38. 
23 : 39-43. 
23 : 44-46. 
23 •' 47-49- 

23 : 50-56. 



12 : 12-19. 



12 : 20-36. 
12 : 36-50. 



12: 
12: 



1-9. 
10, 11. 



13 : 1-35. 

13 : 36-38. 
chs. 14-16- 

17 : 1-26- 
18:1. 

18 : 2-11. 

18 : 12-27. 



18 : 28. 



(18:29-40; 
( 19 : 1-16. 

19: 16-30. 



19 : 31-37- 
19 : 38-42. 



The Resurrection 

Disciples going to Emmaus 
Appearances in Jerusalem. . 

At the Sea of Tiberias 

On the Mount in Galilee 

Unrecorded Works 

Ascension 



VIII. THE RESURRECTION. From 9 April to 18 May, a.d. 30. 
28 : 1-10 



Jerusalem. 
Jer. Emmaus. 
Jerusalem. 
Galilee. 

(?) 
Bethany. 



28 : 16-20. 



16 : i-ii. 

16 : 12, 13. 

16 : 14-18. 



16 : 19, 20. 



24 : 1-12. 

24 : 13-35. 
24 : 36-49. 



24 : 50-53. 



20 : 1-18. 



20: 
21: 



19-29. 
1-23- 



20:30,31; 
21 : 24, 25. 



The Gospel 



ACCORDING TO 



MATTHEW 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW. 



INTRODUCTION. 



By whom written. The testimony of an- 
tiquity is unanimous that the Gospel of Matthew- 
was written by the apostle whose name it bears.* 
Its characteristics are such as one might expect 
from the writer. He was a publican or tax- 
gatherer by profession, and was thus trained to 
orderly and methodical habits of thought ; and 
of all the Gospels his is the most orderly and 
systematic in its arrangement. He gives more 
fully than any other writer the public discourses 
of our Lord. Thus it is that we find in Matthew 
by far the fullest accounts of the Sermon on the 
Mount, the apostolic commission, the discourse 
on blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, that on the 
duties of the disciples to forgive one another, and 
the whole series of invectives against the Phari- 
sees, as well as the parables by the sea and those 
that are prophecies of the destruction of the 
Jewish nation.t 

Original language. But though the au- 
thorship of the Gospel was never called in question 
until the last century, and is as well established 
as that of any ancient book, it is not certain that 
we possess this Gospel in its original form. The 
testimony of the early Church is unanimous that 
Matthew wrote originally in the Hebrew lan- 
guage ; and some confirmation is lent to this 
opinion by the fact that there are indications 
that he wrote his Gospel with special reference 
to exerting his influence upon the Jews, and 
from the statement of at least one of the fathers 
that he belonged to the Jewish party in the 
Christian Church. On the other hand, doubt is 
thrown over this opinion, both by an examination 
of the statements of the fathers, and by a consid- 
eration of peculiar forms of language employed 
in the Gospel itself. The question is unsettled, 
the best scholars not agreeing in their judgment 
concerning it. If there was a Hebrew original, 

* For account of his life see Commentary, p. 111. For 
some account of this testimony see Intro., pp. 16-19. 
t Matt., chaps. 5-7 ; 10-12 : 21-25. 



it disappeared at a very early age. The Greek 
Gospel which we now possess was, it is almost 
certain, written in Matthew's lifetime, and it is 
not at all improbable that he wrote the Gospel in 
both the Greek and Hebrew languages. 

Time of composition. There are no data 
for determining with accuracy the exact time 
when it was written. The testimony of the early 
church, however, is unanimous that it was the 
first written of the Gospels ; and this is confirmed 
indirectly by the fact that in all copies of the 
N. T., and in all translations, this Gospel has 
been placed first. It was probably composed 
about the middle of the first century. 

Object. Whether originally written in the He- 
brew language or not, it is reasonably certain that 
it was written originally for Jewish readers. The 
ancient opinion that Matthew wrote in Hebrew 
indicates this, and the inference is confirmed by 
its character. "We have," says Dean Afford, 
"fewer interpretations of Jewish customs, laws, 
and localities than in the two other Gospels. 
The whole narrative proceeds more upon a Jewish 
view of matters, and is concerned more to estab- 
lish that point, which to a Jewish convert would 
be most important — that Jesus was the Messiah 
prophesied in the Old Testament. Hence the com- 
mencement of his genealogy from Abraham and 
David ; hence the frequent notice of the neces- 
sity of this or that event happening, because it was 
so foretold by the prophets ; hence the constant 
opposition of our Lord's spiritually ethical teach- 
ing to the carnal formalistie ethics of the Scribes 
and Pharisees." 

Characteristics. Of these I have already in- 
cidentally spoken. His diction is the Hebraistic 
Greek of the Septuagint ; his external character as 
a writer is order, method, and simplicity ; his view 
of Jesus Christ is of him as the Messiah-King, 
come to establish on the earth the Kingdom of 
God ; and of that kingdom he affords the most 
perfect delineation in his report of the Sermon 
on the Mount and the Parables by the Sea. 



PALESTINE 

Scale of Miles 




'\ I I L 

;itude East from. 36°Greenwich 



PISK& RUSSELL 



From Monteith's Comprehensive Geography. 



GAZETTEER. 



Bethany (house or place of dates). A well- 
known village about 2 miles from Jerusalem, 
on the eastern slope of the Mt. of Olives. Matt. 
21 : 17 ; 26 : 6-13 ; Mark 11 : 1, 11, 12 ; 14 : 3-9 ; 
Luke 19 : 39 ; 24 : 50, 51 ; John 11 : 1-46 ; 11 : 18. 

Bethlehem {house of bread) a village 5 miles 
south of Jerusalem and east of the road to 
Hebron. It occupies part of the summit and 
sides of a narrow ridge which shoots out east- 
ward from the central chain of the Judean 
mountains, and breaks down abruptly into deep 
valleys on the north, south, and east. The village 
at the present time contains about 500 houses. 
Gen. 35 : 19 ; Ruth 1 : 19 ; 1 Sam. 16 : 4 ; 2 Sam. 
23 : 15-17 ; Matt. 2 : 1-18 ; Luke 2 : 1-20. 

Bethphajje (house of unripe figs). A village on 
the road between Jericho and Jerusalem, and near 
to Bethany, but whether east or west of it is not 
known. Matt. 21 : 1 ; Mark 11 : 1 ; Luke 19 : 29. 

Bethsaida (house offish). A town of Galilee, 
on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. Some 
scholars suppose two towns of the same name. 
This is an improbable and unnecessary hypoth- 
esis. See note on Mark 6 : 45. Bethsaida Julias, 
the only one known to have existed, was on the 
north shore of the sea, near the mouth of the 
river Jordan. Matt. 11 : 21 ; Mark 6 : 45 ; Luke 
9 : 10 ; 10 : 13 ; John 1 : 44 ; 12 : 21. 

Casarea Philippi. A city about 4 miles 
east of Dan, the Hazor and Baal-Gad of Josh. 
11 : 10, 17. Its ruins are found in the little village 
of Banias. Matt. 16 : 13, note. 

Cana (reedy). A village in the hill country of 
Galilee, about 9 miles north of Nazareth, and 
about 6 or 8 hours from Capernaum. John 
2 : 1-11, notes ; 4 : 46-54 ; 31 : 2. 

Capernaum. A city on the sea of Galilee, 
the centre of Christ's missionary operations 
throughout Galilee. Its site is involved in un- 
certainty ; probably it is to be identified with 
Tell-Hum, an uninhabited ruin. Matt. 8 : 5, 14; 
9 : 1, 9 ; Mark 1 : 16, 17, 21, 23 ; Luke 5 : 27 ; 
7 : 1, 8 ; John 6 : 59. 

Chorazin (district of Zin). A town of Galilee. 
The site is uncertain, but recent researches tend 
to identify it with Kerazeh, two miles north of 
Tell-Hum. Matt. 11 : 21 ; Luke 10 : 13. 

Dalmanutha (branch). A village on the 
western shore of the Sea of Galilee, perhaps iden- 
tical with Magdala. Mark 8 : 10, note. 

Dead Sea. Called the Salt Sea, The Sea, The 
Sea of the Plains, i. e., the Arabah, the East Sea, 
Asphaltic Lake, and Sea of Sodom. The Arabs 
term it Bahr Lut, the " Sea of Lot." It is of an 
elongated oval shape, broken by a peninsula which 
projects from the eastern shore, near its southern 



end, and virtually divides the expanse of the water 
into two portions. It is about 46 miles long by 
10 miles wide in the widest part ; its area is about 
250 square geographical miles. The northern 
portion is of great depth, the southern is shallow. 
The sea, in its present extent, covers what was 
once the Vale of Siddim. 

Decapolis (of ten cities). A region in the 
north-eastern part of Palestine, near the Sea of 
Galilee. Matt. 4 : 25, note. 

K mm a us. A village, site unknown, 6 or 8 
miles from Jerusalem. Luke 24 : 13-35. 

Enon. The place where John baptized. Its 
location is uncertain. Robinson places it near 
the north-eastern border of Judea, in the vicinity 
of Samaria. John 3 : 23. 

Ephraim. A city described as near the wil- 
derness ; that is, perhaps, the wild hill country 
north-east of Jerusalem. John 11 : 54. 

Gadara. A Roman town south-east of Tibe- 
rias, giving name to the country of the Gadarenes. 
Matthew 8 : 28, note ; Mark 5:1; Luke 8 : 26. 

Galilee (circle). A name originally confined 
to a little "circuit" of country round Kadesh- 
Napthali, in which were situated twenty towns 
given by Solomon to Hiram, King of Tyre. In 
Christ's time, it embraced the whole northern 
section of Palestine, including the ancient terri- 
tories of Issaehar, Zebulun, Asher, and Naphtali. 
It extended from the Mediterranean to the Jordan 
Valley, and from the base of Mt. Carmel and the 
hills of Samaria, to Phoenicia and the Lebanon 
range. Remains of splendid synagogues still exist 
in many of the old towns and villages, showing 
that from the second to the seventh century the 
Jews were as prosperous as they were numerous. 
Josh. 20 : 7 ; 1 Kings 9:2; Matt. 4 : 15 ; Mark 
14 : 70 ; Luke 17 : 11 ; John 1 : 46 ; 7 : 52. See 
Matt. 2 : 22, note. 

Galilee, Sea of. Called also Sea of Gen- 
nesaret, of Chinnereth or Chinneroth, and the 
Lake of Tiberias. For map and description, see 
Mark 1 : 30, note. 

Jericho. An ancient city of the Canaanites, 
situated in the valley of the Jordan, at the 
entrance of two passes through the hills, — one to 
Jerusalem, the other to Ai and Bethel. It is 
called in Judges 1 : 16 ; 3 : 13, "City of Palm 
Trees." The N. T. Jericho was 2 miles from the 
fountain of Elisha, the present Ain-es-Sultdn. 
Josh. 2 : 1-21 ; 6 : 1 ; 2Sam.lO:5; lKingsl6:34; 
2 Kings 2:1-22; Ezra 2: 34; Neh.3:2; 7:36; 
Jer. 39 : 5 ; 52 : 8 ; Matt. 20 : 29-34 ; Mark 10 : 46- 
52 ; Luke 10 : 30-37 ; 18 : 35, 43 ; 19 : 1-10. 

Jerusalem. A city built on a promontory of 
rock that juts out from the table-land of Judea. 



GAZETTEER. 



Deep but narrow gorges separate it from sur- 
rounding hills. It is 25 feet above the level of 
the Mediterranean Sea, and 3600 feet above the 
valley of the Jordan. A valley divides its rocky 
foundation into two hills, and the city itself into 
an upper and lower town. Josh. 18 : 28 ; Judg. 

1 : 8 ; 2 Sam. 5:6-9; 1 Kings 3 : 1 ; 2 Chr. 25 : 
23, 24 ; Neh., chaps. 2-6 ; 2 Kings 24 : 10-16 ; 25. 
For map, see Matt., ch. 26, p. 257. 

Jordan. The only considerable river of 
Palestine. It rises in the Lebanon range, flows 
for six miles ■ through a marshy plain, enters 
the waters of Merom, thence descends about 
nine miles to the Sea of Galilee, falling in that 
distance about 600 feet ; after quitting this lake 
at its southern extremity it becomes a headlong 
torrent, widening in its course, with many a 
precipitous fall through a strange, lonely valley, 
occupying in its serpentine course 200 miles in 
traversing a direct line of not over 60 ; and finally 
empties into the Dead Sea, 1316 feet below the 
Mediterranean sea level. From the Sea of Galilee 
to the Dead Sea, it descends nearly, if not quite, 
700 feet. Its width varies from 70 feet, at its 
entrance into the Sea of Galilee, to 180 yards at its 
entrance into the Dead Sea. For some of the 
historical events connected with the Jordan, see 
Josh, chaps. 3, 4 ; Judg. 8:4; 10 : 9 : 2 Sam. 

2 : 29 ; 17 : 22 ; 19 : 15-39 ; 2 Kings 2 : 7-14 ; 5 : 
10-14 ; 6 : 2-7 ; Matt. 3 : 6, 13 ; Mark 1 : 5, 9. 

Judea. This name is now frequently applied 
to the whole of the Holy Land, more generally 
designated as Palestine. Properly speaking, 
however, it only signifies one of the three prov- 
inces into which Palestine, west of the Jordan, 
was divided at the time of Christ — Galilee, Sa- 
maria, Judea. The province of Judea comprised 
the territories of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and 
parts of Dan, from the Jordan to the Mediter- 
ranean ; it extended from the wilderness on the 
south to Shiloh on the north, running up, how- 
ever, on the sea-coast west of Samaria to a point 
north of Caesarea. After the disgrace of Arche- 
laus, a.d. 6, Judea was attached to the Roman 
province of Syria ; the procurator, subordinate to 
the Governor of Syria, residing at Caesarea. 

Machaerus. See Matt. 11 : 2, note. 

Magdala. A town on the Sea of Galilee, 
identified with the modern el-Mejdel, a little north 
of Tiberias. Matt. 15 : 39 ; Mark 8 : 10, note. 

Nain. A city mentioned only in Luke 7 : 11. 
Its remains lie on the south side of the Little 
Hermon, two or three hours' distance from Naza- 
reth, on the road to Jerusalem. 

Nazareth . A town situated in a beautiful val- 
ley about five miles west of Tabor. The modern 
town is supposed to have been built upon the 
ancient site ; it has a population of 3120 persons. 
Matt. 2 : 22, 23, note ; Luke 2 : 39 ; 4 : 16. 

Palestine. This name is now universally 



applied to the country formerly inhabited by the 
Jewish people, though in the Bible it has other 
names, as Canaan, Land of the Hebrews, Land 
of Judea, Land of Promise, Land of Jehovah, 
and sometimes simply The Land. In size and 
shape Palestine does not differ widely from the 
State of Vermont ; its length is about 180 miles, 
its average breadth 65. But its variety of cli- 
mate, productions, and geographical features 
have no parallel in any section of equally limited 
area on the American continent. By its physical 
features it is divided into three long and narrow 
parallel sections- -the valley of the Jordan, the 
hill country of Central Palestine, and the rich 
and fertile lowlands which border on the Medi- 
terranean. On the north the hills rise into 
mountains, reaching, in the Lebanon and Anti- 
Lebanon, a height of from 6000 to 8000 feet 
above the level of the ocean. In the south 
they drop down into the level plains of the des- 
ert, while the waters of the Dead Sea are 1316 
feet below the Mediterranean. Politically, at 
the time of Christ Palestine was divided into 
four sections — Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and 
Perea. See Luke 3 : 1, note and map. 

Perea (beyond). The region east of the river 
Jordan, including Bashan and Gilead, because 
lying beyond the river Jordan, so called ; in mod- 
ern literature it is often entitled the trans- 
Jordanic region. In the time of Christ it was 
fertile and populous, and inhabited by a mixed 
population, partly Roman, partly Jewish. It is 
said that the Jordan valley alone contains the ruins 
of 127 villages. Most of the events and incidents 
in Luke, chaps. 10-18, occurred in this district. 

Salim. Site unknown. 

Samaria. The province of Samaria once 
included all of Palestine north of Judea. That 
portion east of the Jordan which originally be- 
longed to it was taken away by the kings of 
Assyria; then the northern portion, Galilee, 
shared the same fate ; and Samaria was reduced 
to the dimensions which it possessed in the time 
of Christ. 1 Chron. 5 : 26 ; 2 Kings 15 : 29 ; 
Luke 9 : 51-56 ; 10 : 25-37 ; John 4 : 39-42. 

Sidon, or Zidon. An ancient city of Phoeni- 
cia, about 20 miles north of Tyre, and nearly 40 
miles south of Beirut. See Matt. 11 : 21, note. 

Sychar. A celebrated city of Palestine ; called 
also Sichem, Shechem, and Sychem. The mod- 
ern town is called Nablous, and contains about 
8000 inhabitants. It is beautifully located in a 
fertile valley between Mt. Ebal and Gerizim, 
about seven miles south of Samaria. Gen. 23 : 
18-20; Josh. 24 : 1-23, 32; Judges 9; 1 Kings 
12 : 1-25 ; 2 Chron. 10 ; Jer. 41 : 5 ; John 4 : 5. 

Tyre. A commercial city of Phoenicia, on 
the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Its pres- 
ent population numbers between 3000 and 4000, 
the half being Christians. See Matt. 11 : 21, note. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 



MATTHEW. 



T 



CHAPTER I. 

HE bo 3k of the generation 3 of Jesus Christ, the 
son of David," the son c of Abraham. 



2 Abraham" 1 begat Isaac ; and Isaac e begat Jacob ■ 
and Jacob f begat Judas and his brethren ; 

3 And Judas bes*at Phares" and Zara of Thamar ; 
and Phares begat Esrom ; n and Esrom begat Aram ;> 



a Luke 3 : 23, &c b ch. 22 : 45 ; Ps. 132 : 11 : Acts 2 : 30 c Gen. 22: 18; Gal. 3 : 16.. 

29: 35, &c.....g Gen. 38:29, 30, &c h Gen. 46 : 12 



.A Gen. 21 : 2-5.. 
Ruth 4 : 19. 



1 : 1-17. THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST.— The 
Old Testament prepares for the New.— Christ 
is the consummation of jewish history. — har- 
LOTS (Rahab, Thamar, Bathsheba) share in the 

PREPARATION FOR HIS COMING. — JEW AND GENTILE, 
SAINT AND SINNER (ABRAHAM, RUTH, AND RAHAE) 
ARE AMONG HIS ANCESTORS ; THUS THE LOWLIEST 
ANCESTRY PREPARES FOR THE NOBLEST BIRTH.— THE 
SON OF A PEASANT, THE SON OF DAVID, THE SON OF 
GOD ABE ALL ONE. — GOD PRESERVES FOR HIS PUR- 
POSE THE PIOUS FAMILY. " It MAY GO DOWN, BUT 
NOT GO OUT; IT STANDS BECAUSE IT WITHSTANDS." 

1. The book of the generation, i. e., the 

genealogical register of Jesus Christ. This is the 
title of the first seventeen verses of this chapter, 
not of the whole Gospel as has sometimes been 
supposed. It was customary for the Jewish fam- 
ilies to keep with care records of their pedigree. 
Among the Jews the land was divided among the 
tribes, and according to families, the monarchy 
and the priesthood were both hereditary ; and 
these facts gave to such genealogical registers of 
the Jewish families a peculiar value. Instances 
of such records are afforded by Gen. 5:1; 3-32 ; 
35 : 23-26. First Chronicles is full of such gene- 
alogies. These records were revived at the time 
of the restoration, and the re-settlement of the 
land of Israel under Ezra and Nehemiah, and the 
allotment of priestly and other offices was appa- 
rently determined according to them (Ezra, chaps. 2, 
8 ; Neh., chaps, i, io, 12). Son of, i. e., descendant of. 
The term son is frequently used in Scripture in this 
enlarged sense. The Messiah promised by the 
prophets was to be a son of David (jer. 23 : 5 ; Ps. 
132 : 10, 11), and the chief object of this genealog- 
ical register of Jesus Christ appears to have been 
to show the Jews that he was a descendant of 
David, and a child of Abraham, and so fulfilled 
the prophecies respecting the Messiah. 

Another genealogical register is given in Luke 
3 : 23-28. The wide differences between them 
have occasioned biblical students some difficulty. 
Luke gives the whole record from Adam ; Mat- 
thew begins at Abraham, and omits many names 
which appear in the O. T. history. Such omis- 
sions of unimportant names in the genealogical 
register are, however, common. But between 
David and Joseph the two lists are almost en- 



tirely different. This is a more serious difficulty. 
Without entering here into a full explanation of 
the difficulty and its solution, for which the 
reader must be referred to the treatises which 
have been written on the subject, it must suffice 
to say : 1st. That both genealogies were undoubt- 
edly taken from the public registers, that of 
Luke probably from the record made out for the 
purpose of the census ordered by Augustus, and 
referred to in Luke 2 : 1, 3. 2d. That both are 
unquestionably the genealogy of Joseph : gene- 
alogies of women were unknown to the Jews, 
and a careful comparison of the two refutes the 
old hypothesis that one is the genealogy of Jo- 
seph, and the other of Mary. 3d. That David 
had four sons by Bathsheba, and that Luke traces 
the genealogy from Nathan, one of these four 
sons (Luie 3 : 31), while Matthew traces it from 
Solomon, another son, and the inheritor of his 
father's throne. Thus Matthew's register shows 
the regal descent of Jesus Christ from David 
through Solomon, and his consequent right, so 
to speak, to sit on the throne of his father David 
— while Luke gives his natural and actual de- 
scent through Nathan, and the two come togeth- 
er at Salathiel. 4th. That it is probable that 
Mary was the cousin of Joseph, her husband ; so 
that in point of fact, though not in form, both 
genealogies are hers as well as his. 5th. That 
the fact that Jesus was a descendant of David 
does not rest alone upon the testimony of these 
genealogies. Psalm 132 : 11 ; Luke 1 : 32 ; Rom. 
1 : 3 show very clearly that Mary also was of the 
family of David. The reason why Jesus is shown 
to be of the family of David, by tracing his de- 
scent through Joseph, his putative father, and 
not through Mary, his real mother, is to be found 
in the fact that the Jews would not have recog- 
nized any fulfillment of the ancient prophecy in 
a genealogy through the mother, which that age 
never recognized. 

2-6. Judas, Greek form of patriarch Judah, 
eldest son of Jacob, and progenitor of the tribe 
of Judah, to which Jesus Christ belonged. 
From his name come the words Judea and Jews. 
Phares and Zara, same as Pharez and Zarah 
(Genesis 38 : 29, so). The rest of the genealogy to 



54 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. I. 



4 And Aram begat Aminadab ; and Arcinadab begat 
Naasson ; ' and Naasson begat Salmon ; k 

5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab ;' and Booz 
begat Obed m of Ruth ; and Obed begat Jesse ; 

6 And Jesse begat David" the king ; and David the 
king begat Solomon" of her that had been the wife of 
Urias ; 

7 And Solomon begat Roboam f and Roboam begat 
Abia ; and Abia begat Asa ; 

8 And Asa begat Josaphat ; and Josaphat begat Jo- 
ram : and Joram begat Ozias ; 

g And Ozias begat Joatham ; and Joatham begat 
Achaz ; and Achaz begat Ezekias ; 

io And Ezekias'i begat Manasses ; and Manasses be- 
gat Amon ; and Amon begat Josias ; 

ii And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, 
about the time they were carried away to Babylon ; 



12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jecho- 
nias begat Salathiel : r and Salathiel begat Zorobabel ;» 

13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud ; and Abiud begat 
Eliakim ; and Eliakim begat Azor ; 

14 And Azor begat Sadoc ; and Sadoc begat Achim ; 
and Achim begat Eliud ; 

15 And Eliud begat Eleazar ; and Eleazar begat 
Matthan ; and Matthan begat Jacob ; 

16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, 
of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are 
fourteen generations ; and from David until the carry- 
ing away into Babylon are fourteen generations ; and 
from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 
fourteen generations. 

18 Now the birth 1 of Jesus Christ was on this wise: 
When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, 



j 1 Chron. 2: 10; Num. 1 : 7 k Ruth 4 : 20.. 

p 1 Chron. 3 : 10, &c q 2 Kings 20 : 



.1 Jos. 6 : 25; Ruth 4 : 21 m Ruth 4 : 13 n 1 Sam. 17 : 12 2 Sam. 12 : 24.. 

; 1 Chion. 3 ; 13 r 1 Chron. 3 : 17, fc s Neh. 12 : 1 t Luke 1 ; 27, 4c. 



David is the same as that in Ruth 4 : 18-22, ex- 
cept that the Greek and Hebrew forms are dif- 
ferent, as Aram for Oram, and Booz for Boaz, 
&c. It is worthy of note that Ruth was a 
Moabite, and that thus, in the very genealogy of 
Christ, there is implied a rebuke of the Jewish 
pride of birth and disdain of the Gentile world. 
Boaz, too, is declared to be the son of Rachab, 
i. e., probably Rahab the harlot (josh. ch. 2), who 
was also a Gentile, and whose name, as well as 
that of Bathsheba, and Thamar, appears to be 
inserted here for the purpose of rebuking that 
form of Phariseeism which visits the sins of the 
mother on the children. Four women are men- 
tioned in this genealogy ; of whom three are de- 
scribed in the sacred history as unchaste at one 
time in their lives, though apparently subse- 
quently repentant. 

7-11. These verses give the regal succession 
from the accession of Solomon to the captivity of 
the Jews in Babylon. Some confusion is pro- 
duced by the fact that the form of the names is 
changed from the Hebrew to the Greek. If we 
change them back to their Hebrew, i. e., to their 
O. T. forms, they will read thus : Solomon, Reho- 
boam, Abijah, Asa, Jehosaphat, Jehoram (there 
were two kings of this name, one the son of 
Ahab, and king of Israel, the other the son of 
Jehosaphat and king of Judah), Uzziah, Jotham, 
Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah (1 

Chron. 3 : 15, lo). 

12. Jechonias begat Salathiel. Jeremiah 
(22 : 30) prophesied that Jechonias should be 
"childless, a man that shall not prosper in his 
days ; for no man of his seed shall prosper, sit- 
ting upon the throne of David, and ruling any 
more in Judah." This prophecy may be under- 
stood to mean, however, not that he should 
have no offspring, but that he should have none 
to succeed him on the throne, as Alford inter- 
prets it ; or it may be that Salathiel, though not 
his son, but the son of Neir, and so a descendant 
of David through Nathan (Luke 3 ; 27), was adopted 
as the heir of Jechonias, as Lord Hervey sup- 



poses (see art. on Salathiel in Smith's Bib. Diet.). 
Zorobabel, probably the natural son of Pedaiah, 
Salathiel's brother (1 chron. 3 ; 19), but adopted by 
his uncle Salathiel and succeeding him as head 
of the house of Judah. 

12-17. These verses give the genealogy 
from the time of the Babylonian captivity to the 
birth of Christ. A similar register is given in 
1 Chron. 3 : 19-24, and some of the persons here 
mentioned are also mentioned in Luke. The 
difference in the statements appears at first to 
be considerable ; but they are all due, probably, 
to the omission from one or the other of the 
genealogies of names deemed unimportant, or to 
a difference in the form of word employed for 
the same name, or to the employment of different 
names for the same person ; thus Hannaniah 
(chron.) and Joanna (Luke) are the same name, as 
also probably are Abiud (Matt.), Juda (Luke), and 
Hadaiah (chron.). 

16. Jacob begat Joseph. Luke says that 
Joseph was the son of Heli ; while both Luke 
and Matthew agree in representing Joseph's 
grandfather as Matthan or Matthat. Jacob and 
Heli were accordingly brothers. By Jewish 
law even if a man died without issue, his broth- 
er was required to marry his widow, and the 
first-born succeeded to the rights of the child- 
less husband (Deut. 25 : 5-10) ; Jacob and Heli prob- 
ably married in succession the same wife accord- 
ing to this law, and Joseph, who was the true 
son of one, was also legally the son and heir of 
the other. 

17. So all the generations are 

fourteen. In counting these tables the first 
person is twice counted ; once as the beginning 
of a table, and once as the end of the preced- 
ing table. Thus Abraham is the first, and David 
the last in the first fourteen, David is the first 
and Josiah the last in the second fourteen, and 
Josiah is the first and Joseph the last in the 
third. 

1 i 18-25. THE BIETH OF JESUS. — See Notb 



[Oh. I. 



MATTHEW. 



55 



before they came together, she was found with child 
of the Holy Ghost. 

19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and 
not willing to make her a public example, was minded" 
to put her away privily. 

20 But while he thought on these things, the angel 
of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream/ saying, 
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee 



Mary thy wife ; for that which is conceived in ner is of 
the Holy Ghost. 

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt 
call his name JESUS : for he shall save" his people 
from their sins. 

22 Now all this was done, that it might be ful611ed 
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, 1 say- 
ing, 



u Deut. 24 : 1 v Job 33 : 15, 17 w Acts 6 : 31 ; 13 : S3, 



below on Names of Jesus ; and on the Incarna- 
tion see Notes on John 1. 

18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ. Ac- 
cording to the chronology, which regulates our 
present system of dates, Jesus was born in the 
year of Rome 754, and in the first year of the 
present system of reckoning, i. e., A.D. 1. But it 
is now generally agreed that this places his birth 
some years too late. Herod died in the year of 
Home 750, i. e., B.C. 4. Jesus was born during 
the lifetime of Herod, and certainly within less 
than two years previous to his death (Matt. 2 .- 16), 
i. e. , between the years of Rome 748 and 750, or 
between 6 and 4 b.c. The time of year of his 
birth is entirely unknown. There is no reason 
for supposing it to have occurred on the 25th of 
December ; that month was fixed upon for the 
commemoration of his birth (in the sixth cen- 
tury) for the purpose of drawing off heathen 
converts from the heathen festivities. (See Ab- 
bott's Popular Religious Dictionary, article Christ- 
mas.) In this wise, i. e., the circumstances 
attending his birth were as follows. Espoused. 
Among the ancient Jews the espousal or be- 
trothal, answering to our modem marriage en- 
gagement, was a formal and solemn contract, 
almost as much so as the subsequent wedding 
itself. It was ratified on both sides with oaths 
by the parties or their representatives. After 
betrothal the woman was considered to a certain 
extent a wife ; the contract could only be set 
aside by a solemn renunciation of it, answering 
to a divorce; and if, after the betrothal, the 
woman was guilty of infidelity, she was consid- 
ered guilty of adultery, exactly as if the marriage 
had taken place (Ezek. ie : 8; Deut. 22 : 23, 24). Came 
together. The woman continued to live at her 
father's house prior to the marriage, which was 
completed by a public bringing of the woman to 
the home of her husband. Before this was ac- 
complished, and Joseph and Mary had begun to 
live together as man and wife, she was found to 
be with child. 

19. Joseph, her husband, so called, and 
so in some sense regarded, though they were as 
yet unmarried (comp. Gen. 29 : 21 ; Deut. 22 : 24). Being 
just, i. <?., having a character such as rendered 
him unwilling to pass by what he deemed a fla- 
gitious offence against good morals and the law 
of God ; And yet not willing to make her 
a public example, being also kind and merci- 



ful, and probably greatly attached to her despite 
what he supposes to be her sin. Intended 10 
put her away privately. According to the 
original he not merely thought of doing so, but 
had resolved to do so. By Jewish law the husband 
was final judge in all cases in which his wife was 
suspected of infidelity, so far at least that he 
might himself annul the marriage, provided, how- 
ever, he gave her a bill of divorcement, setting 
forth the reasons for his course. This must be 
in writing, and by the rabbinical law was re- 
quired to be given to her in the presence of at 
least two witnesses — (Lightfoot). This, however, 
apparently involved her in no condemnation, 
since she might in that case marry again (Deut. 24 : 
1-4). But she could not be proceeded against 
criminally without a trial ; in such case, if found 
guilty of adultery, she was put to death by ston- 
ing (Deut. 22 : 22-24). Joseph proposed not to bring 
any criminal complaint against Mary, but simply 
to give her a writing of divorcement under the 
provision of the former of these two laws, and so 
separate from her. On these provisions of di- 
vorce, and their bearing on the questions of mar- 
riage and divorce, we comment elsewhere (Matt. 
19 : 8-9). 

20. Take unto thee Mary, thy wife, i.e., 
Take Mary to be thy wife ; do not fear to com- 
plete the marriage relation begun by the be- 
trothal. For that which, etc. See on Luke 
1 : 30, etc. Jesus, same as Joshua. The name 
of Joshua is rendered Jesus once in Acts 7 : 45, 
and once in Hebrews 4 : 8. See below on the 
names of Jesus. 

22, 23. Now all this was done, etc., 
The prophecy referred to is to be found in Isaiah 
7 : 14-16. About 740 B.C., Ahaz being king of 
Judah, an invasion was threatened by the com- 
bined armies of Syria and Israel. Ahaz was 
alarmed, and determined to call in aid from As- 
syria for his defence. God promised deliverance 
to Judah, and invited Ahaz to ask a sign in con- 
firmation. This Ahaz declined to do. Isaiah 
then, under divine inspiration, uttered a proph- 
ecy, which is confessedly somewhat enigmatical, 
and which Henderson renders as follows. The 
reader will do well to compare this translation 
with that of our English Bible. 

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son ; 
And shall call his name Immanuel. 



56 



MATTHEW. 



Oh. I] 



23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and. shall 
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emman- 
uel ; which being interpreted is, God? with us. 

24 Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the 



angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him 
his wife • 

25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her 
first-born z son : and he called his name JESUS." 



y John 1 : 14 z Ex. 13 : 2 a Luke 2 : 



Butter and honey shall he eat, 
When he shall know to reject what is evil, 
And to choose what is good. 
But before the youth shall have knowledge 
To reject what is evil and to choose what is good, 
The land, which thou destroyest [Eng. vers, abhor- 
rest], shall be forsaken by both its kings. 

Shortly after uttering this prophecy Isaiah had 
a child by one who was, at the time of the proph- 
ecy, a virgin, and the declaration was then made 
by God (isaiah 8 : 1-4) that before this son should 
be able to cry, " My father and my mother," the 
riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria 
should be taken away before the king of Assyria 
(isaiah 8 : 1-4). Ahaz carried out his contemplated 
plan, secured the aid of the king of Assyria, and 
by doing so repelled the invaders. Damascus, 
the capital of Syria, was taken, and Rezin was 
slain. Shortly after Samaria was besieged by the 
same Assyrian king, and Israel was carried away 
captive. Thus, some years before the maturity of 
Isaiah's son, both the allied nations, leagued 
against Judah, were effectually destroyed (2 Kings 

16-17 : 6). 

There are two explanations of Isaiah's proph- 
ecy. One is that he referred to the birth of his 
own son, Mahershalalhashbaz ; that his declara- 
tion should be translated as in our Bible, "the 
land that thou abhorrent shall be forsaken of both 
her kings ;" and that this prophecy was literally 
fulfilled by the destruction of Damascus and the 
death of Rezin, and by the destruction of Sama- 
ria and the captivity of Israel, as recorded in 
2 Kings 16 and 17. According to this view Isaiah 
did not himself have in mind the future birth of 
the Messiah, though the birth of his own son, 
and the consequent deliverance of Israel, was 
itself a prophecy of a greater deliverance to 
come, just as the raising of the brazen serpent in 
the wilderness was prophetic of the crucifixion 
of Christ. The other view is that the prophecy 
of Isaiah was not intended as a sign of deliver- 
ance but was a rebuke to Ahaz for persisting in 
his appeal to the king of Assyria ; that the proph- 
ecy should be translated as Henderson translates 
it in the passage quoted above ; that by it God 
declared to Ahaz that though temporary relief 
should come, yet the end of the Jewish nation 
was not far off, and that before the Messiah, 
long-promised and long-expected, should come 
to years of maturity, the land which Ahaz by his 
wickedness corrupted and destroyed, i. e., the 
land of Canaan, Jehovah's land, should be for- 
saken of both her kings, discrowned and subject- 



ed to a foreign power. This in fact occurred : 
for, at the time of the birth of Jesus, Herod was 
nominally king of the Jews, and after Herod's 
death, Archelaus, his son, reigned in his stead ; 
but in the 12th year of our Lord, the very year 
in which he evinced his wonderful discrimi- 
nation by disputing with the elders in the temple 
(Luke 2 : 42-46), Archelaus was banished, and Judea 
was reduced to a Roman province. The former 
of these two interpretations is the more common 
one ; the latter appears to me to consort best 
with the original prophecy, and its divine fulfill- 
ment by the birth of Jesus Christ. It seems not 
reasonable, on the one hand, to imagine, as some 
have done, that the birth of Jesus Christ was fore- 
told by Isaiah as a sign for the purpose of assuring 
Ahaz of national deliverance, when, in fact, the 
deliverance preceded the sign over seven centu- 
ries ; nor consonant with the direct declaration 
of Matthew that the birth of Jesus fulfilled this 
prophecy, if, in fact, the prophecy had only an 
indirect reference to it ; nor does the birth of a 
child, who does not appear to have been called 
Immanuel, by a woman who was not at the time 
a virgin, appear to be a real fulfillment of the 
prophecy ; nor does it seem reasonable to sup- 
pose that God would encourage Ahaz in going on 
with his appeal to Assyria, a heathen ally, to 
whom he gave "the silver and gold that was 
found in the house of the Lord" (2 Kings 16 : 8) ; 
while it entirely accords with the circumstances 
of the case to understand that the prophecies of 
Isaiah 7 : 14-16 and 8 : 1-4 are distinct prophe- 
cies, the latter a declaration that Judah shall be 
delivered speedily from Syria and Israel; the 
former that immediately subsequent to the birth 
of the long-anticipated Messiah the entire land, 
Israel and Judah, should be deprived of its na- 
tional glory, its kings discrowned, and itself re- 
duced to a subject province. Actual history ful- 
fils both prophecies, if thus understood, and thus 
gives to this interpretation an additional confir- 
mation. 

24. Then Joseph took unto him his 
wife ; perhaps so as to preclude suspicion at- 
taching to her ; perhaps to convince her that no 
suspicion lingered in his own mind. It was, at 
all events, a strong attestation of his belief in the 
divine message. Knew her not till she had 
brought forth her first-born son. Certainly 
there is nothing in this verse to imply the perpet- 
ual virginity of Mary. There is some doubt 
whether the word first-born belongs here. 
Alford thinks not, and suggests that it was bor- 



Oh. II.] 



MATTHEW. 



57 



CHAPTER II. 



NOW when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea 
in the days of Herod the king, behold, there 
came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 



z Saying, Where is he that is born b King of the 
Jews ? for we have seen his star c in the east, and are 
come to worship 11 him. 

3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he 
was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 



rowed from Luke 2 : 7. The phrase seems to 
imply that she had other children, a question 
elsewhere considered (Matt. 13 ; 55). 

The Names of Jesus. — It was the Hebrew 
custom to give names possessing a special signi- 
fication (Gen. 27 ; 36 ; Exod. 2 : 10) ; and sometimes to 
change the name as an indication of a change of 
character. Thus Abram {high father) was 
changed to Abraham (father of a multitude), and 
Jacob (supplanter), to Israel (a prince of God). 
Names given by parents might of course be 
meaningless, or might prove inappropriate, as 
Absalom (fatlier of peace), and Rehoboam (liber- 
ator). The names of Jesus were given by God 
with the distinct recognition of their significance, 
and are therefore important indications of his 
character and work. Each of his three names, 
Christ, Emanuel, Jesus, are symbols of truths 
respecting him and his relations to us. 

Christ, is a Greek word corresponding to 
Messiah, which is Hebrew. Both mean the 
"Anointed One," and both are titles rather than 
names. The original in the O. T. is sometimes 
translated Messiah, sometimes the Anointed ; and 
is applied to the high priests and to kings (Lev. 4 : 3, 

6,16; 1 Sam. 12:3,5; 16:6; 2 Sam. 1 :14; Ps. 18:50; 28:8; Is.45:l). 

Kings were not always anointed, but the essential 
element in the inauguration ceremonies of the 
high priest was anointing, and he was emphat- 
ically the "Anointed" to the Jews, as to the 
Romanist the pope (i. e. papa) is emphatically 
the Holy Father. The reiterated declaration of 
the prophets that redemption should come 
through the Messiah (Anointed One), was equiv- 
alent to a declaration that it should come 
through a Great High Priest ; and the high priest 
himself was a perpetual and living prophecy 
of the coming of such a deliverer. To us Jesus 
is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, i. e. 
the one whom God has anointed to be our Great 
High Priest, through whom we have access 
" with boldness to the throne of grace " (Heb. 1 :9; 

4 : 14-16 ; ch. 5). 

Emanuel or Immanuel is a Hebrew term 
signifying "God with us." The heathen relig- 
ions generally represent God as afar off or un- 
known (Acts n : 23). Natural religion also repre- 
sents him as the "Unknown" and "Unknow- 
able." "The soul can never find the soft bosom 
of the mother in whose heart it can nestle. " — ( 0. 
B. Froth ingham.) "It is alike our highest wis- 
dom and our highest duty to regard that through 
which all things exist as the ' Unknowable.' " — 



(Herbert Spencer.) Christianity represents him 
as our Shepherd, our Guardian, our Guide, 
our constant Companion, our supreme Comfort- 
er in sorrow, our strength in temptation, Im- 
manuel, God with us. It represents him in the 
O. T. a Guide and a Deliverer (ps. is : 23; Ps. 104, 105, 
107) ; in the N. T. a " God manifest in the flesh " 

(John 1 : 14; 1 Tim. 3 : 16 ; Heb. 1 : 3. Compare Phil. 2 : 5-ll) ; 

and in the daily experience of the Christian he 
is disclosed as a God with us here and now, be- 
cause he dwells with us and in us, unknown to 
the intellect but known to the heart (Matt. 5:8; 

John 14 : JC-20 ; and see John 14 and 15 throughout ; and compare Gal. 
2 : 20, and similar passages). 

Jesus is a Hebrew term, signifying help, de- 
liverance, salvation. It is a modification of the 
name Joshua, which is itself an abbreviation of 
Jehosua, i. c, Jehovah his help (Numb. 13 : i6; l chron. 
7 : 27). Its meaning is interpreted by the angel in 
verse 21, "For he shall save his people from 
their sins ; " observe, not from the consequences 
of their sins, but from their sins, i. e., from the 
power and dominion of sin itself (phi. 4 : 13 ; Rom. 7 : 
25; 8 : 27; Eph. 6 : ii, &c.,&c). This he does because as 
our Messiah, i. e. our high priest, he takes 
away the burden of the past, and as our Imman- 
uel, i. e. God with us, he gives strength in the 
present, and assurance of victory in the future. 
Thus the three names of our Saviour — Christ, 
"the anointed high priest ; " Immanuel, "God 
with us ;" and Jesus, "he that saves" — embody 
the great doctrines of the Gospel, that he makes 
atonement for the past, is our companion in the 
present, and so delivers us from the power of sin 
now, and its penalty hereafter. 



2 : 1-12. VISIT OF THE MAGI. The light op na- 
ture is but starlight.— It leads honest inquirers 
to Christ by first leading them to the Script- 
ure.— He who follows what light he has will be 
given more light.— The heathen enter the king- 
dom of Christ before the Scribes (Matt. 8 : 11, 
12).— God adapts his teaching to the learner ; 
he teaches the Magi bt the stars, the Scribes 
by the Scriptures.— It is better to believe the 
teaching of nature and obey it. than to be- 
lieve the teaching of the scripture and dis- 
OBEY it.— Herod is an example of an unbelieving 

BELIEVER ; HE BELIEVES THE SCRIPTURE, BUT " HOLDS 
IT IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS," AND WRESTS IT TO HIS 

own hurt (Rom. 1 : 18 and note ; 2 Pet. 3 : 16).— The 
Scribes point to Christ and yet are cast-away 
(1 Cor. 9 : 27).— The near are sometimes afar off ; 

AND THE AFAR OFF NEAR.— THE MAGI SAW THE STAR, 
AND REJOICED ; HEROD HEARD OF CHRIST, AND WAS 



.58 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. II. 




BETHLEHEM. 

Looking west from the Convent of the Nativity. 



troubled (1 Kings 18 : 17; Matt. 10 : 34). Does the 
coming of Christ give you jot or trouble ? 

1. Now when Jesus was born. The 
evangelist passes over the intervening results 
and the account of Christ's birth, and the rea- 
sons which had led his parents to Bethlehem, 
all of which are given in Luke 2 : 1-20. Beth- 
lehem of Judea. A village five miles south of 
Jerusalem. Its name Beth-lehem (house of bread) 
was due to the fertility of the adjacent corn- 
fields. The modern village contains about five 
hundred houses, a famous convent, within which 
is a large rock-hewn cave which the monks point 
out as the manger where Christ was born. Over 
this cave stands the Basilica built by St. Helena 
a.d. 325-327, in honor of Christ, the oldest mon- 
ument of Christ existing in the world. Bethle- 
hem is one of the oldest towns in Palestine, and 
has a sacred history. Near it is the tomb where 
Jacob - buried Rachel. The supposed site is still 
shown to travelers. In the adjoining fields Ruth 
gleaned for grain and gained a husband. Here 
David was born and anointed king (Gen. 35 : 16, 19 ; 

Ruth 1 : 19; 1 Sam. 16: 1-13; 2 Sam. 23 : 15-ll). And here, 



in the fourth century after Christ, Jerome, flee- 
ing from persecution, accomplished the great 
work of his life, the" Vulgate," the translation 
of the Scriptures into Latin, the accepted ver- 
sion of the Roman Catholic Church. It is called 
Bethlehem in Judah or Bethlehem-Judah (judg. 
n : 7, 8, 9; i Sam. n : 12), to distinguish it from anoth- 
er Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun near the 
sea of Galilee (josh. 19 : 15). It was also called 
Ephrath, the fruitful (Gen. 35 ; 19; 48 : 7), orEphratah 

(Micah 5:2). 

Herod the king. Herod is the name of a 
family which plays an important part in the his- 
tory of Palestine. Seven of that name are men- 
tioned in the N. T., as follows : 

I. Herod the Great. 

II. Herod Archelaus. He was a son of Herod 
the Great, was made by his father's will one of 
his heirs ; the will was confirmed by Augustus 
Csesar, and Herod Archelaus, with the title of 
monarch, received the one-half of his father's 
dominions, viz., Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, 
with the cities of Joppa and Csesarea. He is the 
Herod referred to below in ver. 22. 



Oh. II.] 



MATTHEW. 



59 



III. Herod Antipas, another son of Herod the 
Great, and by his father appointed tetrarch of 
Galilee and Perea. His illicit marriage to Hero- 
dias, wife of his half-brother Philip, was rebuked 
by John the Baptist ; the rebuke led to the lat- 
ter's execution. He was the Herod before whom 
our Lord was sent by Pilate during the Passion 
week (Lake 23 : 7). For some account of his life 
and character see Matt. 14 : 1, note. 

IV. Herod Philip I, known in the N. T. as 
Philip, a third son of Herod the Great, the first 
and lawful husband of Herodias, and the father 
of Salome (Matt, u : 3, 6). He must not be con- 
founded with the tetrarch Philip. Owing to his 
mother's treachery he was excluded from all 
share in his father's possessions and lived in a 
private station. 

V. Herod Philip II, a fourth son of Herod the 
Great and made tetrarch of Batanea, Trachonitis, 
Auranitis and some parts about Jamnia. His 
territory lay east of Galilee and north of Perea. 
He was the founder of Caesarea Philippi, and 
made a new city, which he called Julius, out of 
Bethsaida, on the northern shore of the Sea of 
Galilee. He married Salome, the daughter of 
Herod Philip I and Herodias. He was by far the 
best of the ruling sons of Herod the Great; is 
referred to in the N. T. only in Luke 3 : 1. 

VI. Herod Agrippa I, a grandson of Herod the 
Great. He is the Herod mentioned in Acts 
12 : 1-3, 23. See notes there. 

VII. Herod Agrippa II, a son of Herod Agrip- 
pa I. In a.d. 52, he was made ruler, with the 
title of king, of northern Palestine, the previous 
dominions of Philip and Lysanias. He is the 
Agrippa before whom Paul was tried (Acts 25 : 13, 
22, 23; 26:27, 28). See notes' there for life and 
character. There were other members of the 
Herodian family, but these are the only ones 
mentioned in the N. T. 

The Herod here referred to is the father, 
Herod misnamed the Great, the second son of 
Antipater, an Idumean, appointed procurator of 
Judea by Julius Caesar, b.c. 47, and subsequently 
receiving the title of " King of Judea " from the 
Roman Senate. He possessed energy of char- 
acter, but an unscrupulous ambition, and was 
remorselessly cruel. He was made governor of 
Galilee at the early age of fifteen, and distin- 
guished himself by his campaign against the 
brigands who infested the mountains. He trans- 
ferred his allegiance without scruple from Cassius 
to Antony, and from Antony to Caesar, as in 
succession they secured the possession of the 
political power of Rome. By Antony's influence 
he was made king of Judea, and on Antony's 
fall was confirmed in his position by Caesar. He 
rebuilt the temple in great magnificence in Jeru- 
salem, which is consequently known in history 
as Herod's Temple, to distinguish it from Sol- 



omon's Temple ; he also constructed another on 
Mt. Gerizim for the Samaritans and established 
heathen worship in Caesarea for the Romans. By 
nature jealous and suspicious, a terrible distem- 
per, which finally brought his wretched life to a 
more wretched end, aggravated the asperities of 
his temper. In succession, his wife's grandf ather, 
his wife herself, and three of his own sons were 
slain by his command. His course on hearing 
that another "king of the Jews" was born, was 
quite in keeping with all that secular history 
records of his character. He died miserably in 
the 70th year of his age, and the 38th year of his 
reign, issuing on his death-bed a characteristic 
order for the massacre of the courtiers whom he 
had called about him in his last illness. Thus he 
said he should secure universal mourning at his 
death. The events recorded in this chapter took 
place near the close of his reign, probably during 
the last year. 

There came wise men from the east. 
Concerning thpse "wise men ' ' three questions nat- 
urally call for some answer : (1) Who were they ? 
(2) From what country did they come ? (3) How 
should they know that the star foretold the com- 
ing of Christ ? 

(1.) The original expression is "Ifagifrom the 
East.'''' The term magi is that from which comes 
our modern word "magician." Its etymology 
is uncertain. It is probably derived from a word 
(mogh, priest) found in the Zend, the ancient 
language in which the sacred books of the Per- 
sians were written, and is connected with a simi- 
lar word (mahal, great) in the Sanscrit, from 
which the Latin magnus and our words major, 
magnify, magnificent, etc., are derived. This 
derivation corresponds with what is known of 
the magi, who were the priests and the great 
men, first of Media, afterwards of the Medo-Per- 
sian empire. The earliest notice, in Scripture, of 
this class is in Jer. 39 : 3, 13, where mention is made 
of Rab-mag, which is probably not a proper 
name, but a compound word signifying chief 
magi, after the analogy of such words as chief 
eunuch and chief butler. The same class is re- 
ferred to in Jeremiah 50 : 35, where our English 
version entitles them "wise men." But the 
most frequent references to them are in the book 
of Daniel. To this class Nebuchadnezzar ap- 
pealed in vain for the exposition of his dream 
(Dan. 2 : 1-13), and Belshazzar for the interpretation 
of the handwriting on the wall (Dan. 5: 1-9). Dan- 
iel himself seems to have been in some measure 
identified with them, intercedes to save them 
from death (Dan. 2 : 24), and accepts the office 
of the "master of the magicians" (Dan. 5:11), 
which was probably that of Rab-Mag or Chief- 
Magi. The origin of this class is involved in ob- 
scurity. It is believed, however, to have origi- 
nally existed in the Chaldean empire, to have 



60 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. II. 



4 And when he had gathered e all the chief priests 
and scribes of the people together, he demanded of 
them where Christ should be born. 



5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: 
for thus it is written f by the prophet ; 

6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not 



e Ps. 2 : 2 f Micah 5:2; John 7:42. 



been preserved in the successive changes which 
wars of conquest produced in the political organ- 
ization and national complexion of the eastern 
world, and to have remained intact, though 
modified, in the successive Assyrian, Median, 
and Persian kingdoms. This hypothesis of the 
origin of this priestly class is confirmed by the 
fact that in the O. T. it is not unfrequently des- 
ignated by the title Chaldeans (Dan. 2:4, 5, 10, etc.). 
It certainly was not of Persian origin, and it is 
equally certain that it was reorganized and re- 
formed by contact with the Persian religion. 
Under the Persian empire the magi existed in 
three orders ; they wore a peculiar dress ; they 
had direction of the education of the monarch, 
who, as the special privilege of his rank, was 
permitted to become acquainted with their 
learning; next to the king's wives and eunuchs, 
they stood nearest to his person, and constituted 
his chief counsellors (Esther 1 : 13). These peculiar 
prerogatives were due to the religious venera- 
tion which was paid to them (see Dan. 2 : 46). They 
performed all public religious rites, were the 
teachers of all religious truths, and were re- 
garded as the sole medium of communication 
between the Deity and his creatures. They 
practised divination, and by various means — au- 
guries, dreams, and especially a study of the 
stars — assumed to read the destiny of mankind, 
and to interpret the problems of the future. It 
was Daniel's pre-eminent success in interpreting 
the dream which the magi could not interpret 
that placed him at their head (Dan. 2 : 47, 48). The 
fact that he accepted this office, and still more 
the fact that Nebuchadnezzer introduced as a 
novelty a golden image to be worshipped, and 
Darius, by special edict, forbade all petitions to 
god or man for thirty days (Dan., chaps. 3 and 6), in- 
dicate that the magi were not image-worship- 
pers, and that their superstitions were mainly, 
or at least largely, those of honest seekers after 
truth, having, however, no other manifestation 
of God than was afforded them by nature. In 
later days they degenerated into mere sooth- 
sayers and fortune-tellers. In the N. T., except 
in this one passage in Matt., they appear only as 
impostors. To this class belonged, or pretended 
to belong, Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8 : 9-11) and 
Bar-jesus (Acta 13 : 8). In classic history they are 
treated as a despicable class. But the itinerant 
magi, seeking personal aggrandizement among 
the ignorant, by the use of an honored name, 
may have been impostors, and yet the true magi 
in their own country, studying nature as the 



sole revelation given to them of an unknown 
God, may have been honest, honorable, and 
learned men, and sincere seekers after the 
truth; and this appears to have been the case 
with those magi who followed the star in the 
East in their search for the Messiah. Of the 
later legends respecting them it must suffice to 
say that there is nothing historical in any of 
them ; the legend that they were kings possibly 
grew out of such passages as Psalms 68 : 29 ; 
72 : 10, 11, 15, and Isaiah 60 : 3, which it is hard- 
ly necessary to say do not refer to the worship 
and gifts proffered by the magi to the infant 
Jesus ; the legend that they were three in num- 
ber, preserved in song and in art, is said to have 
grown out of a desire to find in their visit a con- 
firmation of the doctrine of the Trinity, or to see 
in them representatives of the three great divi- 
sions of the human family, descended from Noah. 
During the middle ages the bodies of these magi 
were, it was pretended, discovered; they were 
brought to Constantinople, thence to Milan, and 
finally to Cologne, in whose cathedral the shrine 
of the three kings is still shown as the greatest 
of its many treasures. 

(2.) " The East" was then, as it now is with 
us, a very general term. Probably the country in- 
dicated to the mind of any Palestinian Jew would 
be the region stretching forward from the Jor- 
dan to the Euphrates. Somewhere in this gen- 
eral district we must look for the home of the 
magi who visited the infant Jesus ; but whether 
in Arabia, Persia, Chaldea, or Parthia cannot 
with certainty be known. 

(3.) Secular history affords some answer to the 
third question — How should they know that the 
star foretold the coming of Christ ? An opinion, 
derived possibly through the Scriptures, pre- 
vailed throughout the ancient world that a Mes- 
siah would come at about this time. Confucius, 
in China, had prophesied the appearance of such 
a deliverer, and a deputation of his followers, 
going forth in search of him, were the means of 
introducing Buddhism into China. This belief 
is also recognized by Roman writers, as Tacitus 
and Justinius. But the clearest of all these 
prophecies was one by Zoroaster, the founder of 
the reformed religion of Persia, who had foretold 
the coming of a prophet, supernatu rally begotten, 
who should found a kingdom of righteousness 
and peace ; and later traditions, borrowed per- 
haps from the faith of the Jews and the prophe- 
cies of Daniel, during the captivity, led the Zo- 
roastians to expect that this Messiah would be 



Ch. II] 



MATTHEW. 



61 



of the seed of Abraham. Thus prepared to ex- 
pect the coming of a Messiah in Judea, the ap- 
pearance of a remarkable star traveling westward 
would naturally lead the magi to recognize in it 
an augury of the Messiah's coming, and to follow 
it to his birth-place. The coming of these magi af- 
fords a singularly literal fulfillment of the proph- 
ecy of Isaiah 60 : 1-3 ; comp. that of Xumb. 24 : 17. 
2. We have seen his star in the East. 
The ancients regarded any peculiarly bright star 
as a portent of the advent of some great person- 
age, and they also believed that at death their 
heroes migrated into some star. Thus Julius 
Cassar was deified at his death, it is said, because 
of a star which appeared at that time, and into 
which it was believed he had gone. Respecting 
the star in the East an extensive literature has 
been written. The opinions respecting it are 
given below. The facts, as reported by Matthew, 
our sole authority, are these. The magi, coming 
from the East to Jerusalem, reported that they 
had seen a star in the East, which portented the 
advent of an anticipated "king of the Jews," 
and they came to Jerusalem to worship him ; 
they learned from the Council where he should 
be born, viz., Bethlehem; when they left 
Jerusalem the star again preceded them, and 
guided them to "where the young child was," 
an expression which may indicate either the 
town of Bethlehem or the house in the town. 
Concerning it the principal hypotheses may be 
classified as follows : (1.) That it was not a star, 
but a miraculous light, created for the special 
purpose of guiding the magi to Christ. This is 
perhaps the most common opinion, but it does 
not accord with the language of the Evangelist, 
who describes it as a star (<Jcn;o), not as a light 
(?.v/ro:). (2.) That it was a meteor, or a comet. 
The second hypothesis is conceivable, the first 
scarcely so. For though the Greek word ren- 
dered star is used for a meteor (jnde 13), no me- 
teor, according to any known laws of its exist- 
ence, could have guided the magi so far, and its 
extinction would have been an omen full of evil 
to them. (3.) That it was one of the stars of 
heaven, then first created, or then first seen, and 
that the guiding was due, not to the real motion 
of the body itself, but to a miraculous diversion 
of its rays, in a manner analogous to that which 
is by many believed to have produced the appa- 
rent standing still of the sun and moon (josh. 10 : 
13), and the going back of the sun-dial (2 Kings 20: 
11). This view is maintained, with no inconsider- 
able power, by F. W. Upham, in a monograph 
on The Star of our Lord. .(4.) That it was a 
conjunction of planets, not in a true sense a mi- 
raculous phenomenon, and that God thus em- 
ployed nature to guide to Christ those who were 
seeking in nature for a clearer revelation of God 
and divine truth. It is now certain that in the 



year 747 of Borne, on the 20th of May, a conjunc- 
tion of Jupiter and Saturn occurred in that part 
of the heavens in which, according to astrology, 
signs denoted the most notable events. It was 
repeated on the 27th of October, and again on the 
12th of November. The first of these conjunc- 
tions would rise, to the Assyrian, in the East, 
three and a half hours before sunrise. The jour- 
ney to Bethlehem would occupy about five 
months, and the November conjunction would 
be before them, in the direction of Bethlehem, 
when they were at Jerusalem. It was a tradi- 
tion with the Jews that a similar conjunction of 
Jupiter and Saturn preceded the birth of Moses, 
and there are indications that not only the Jews 
but also the Chaldeans regarded such a conjunc- 
tion as an indication of the near approach of the 
Messiah. The chief objection proposed to this 
hypothesis is that such a conjunction could not 
indicate "where the 3'oung child was," and the 
notion that another body of a meteoric nature did 
this guiding does not agree with the narrative, 
which identifies it as the same star. Each of 
these opinions is purely hypothetical ; each has 
difficulties. I incline to regard the latter as most 
consonant with the narrative, and to interpret 
the language of verse 9 to indicate simply that 
the town wherein the magi were to find the Mes- 
siah was indicated to them by the star. Not 
more than two years (verse ie) nor less than five or 
six months intervened between the birth of Jesus 
and the appearance of the magicians at Jerusa- 
lem. The visit of the shepherds (Luke 2 : s-16) hav- 
ing preceded, the babe was no longer dwelling in 
the stable, but in a house (verse 11). 

We have come to worship him. Do 
homage in the eastern fashion of prostration. 
Civil honors due to a king, not divine honors to 
a God, are here indicated. Yet it must be re- 
membered that the ancient heathen drew no 
clear distinction between the two, and used the 
same word and the same sign of homage in both 

Cases (see Matt. 8 : 2, note). 

3. Troubled — agitated, thrown into tumult. 
The same word is used in John 5 : 4, to indicate 
a stirring up of water. This is the original mean- 
ing of the word. The idea of uneasiness or dis- 
comfort is secondary. Josephus represents the 
commotion as stirred up by the Pharisees, who 
prophesied a revolution. 

4. Chief priests. The priesthood were di- 
vided into twenty-four courses, each having its 
own chief or president (l chron. 24 : 6). The term 
here used probably includes the high priest and 
any who had held that office, together with the 
chiefs of the priestly courses. Scribes — Jewish 
doctors or rabbis learned in the law and the 
commentaries thereon, the theologians of the 
first century. What Herod probably summoned 
was the Sanhedrim. It was the chief legislative 



62 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. II. 



the least among the princes of Juda : for out of thee 
shall come a Governor, that shall rule? my people 
Israel. 

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise 
men, inquired of them diligently what time the star 
appeared. 

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem ; and said, Go and 
search diligently for the young child ; and when ye 
have found him, bring me word again, that I may 
come 11 and worship him also. 

9 When they had heard the king, they departed : 
and, lo, the star, which they saw' in the east, went 
before them, till it came and stood over where the 
young child was. 

io When they saw the star, theyj rejoiced with 
exceeding great joy. 

ii And when they were come into the house, they 
saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell 



down, and worshipped him : and when they had 
opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts - k 
gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. 

12 And being warned of God 1 in a dream that they 
should not return to Herod, they departed into their 
own country another way. 

13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel 
of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, 
Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and 
flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee 
word : for Herod 1 " will seek the young child, to de- 
stroy him. 

14 When he arose, he took the young child and his 
mother by night, and departed into Egypt : 

15 And was there until the death of Herod, that it 
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by 
the prophet, saying, Out" of Egypt have I called my 



S Rev. 2 : 27 h Prov. 26 : i 



>9....jPs. 67 : 4 k Ps. 72 : 10 ; Isa. 60 : 6 1 ch. 1 : 20 m verse 16 n Hosea 11 : 1. 



and judicial body of the Jews, consisted of seven- 
ty-one members, comprised the chiefs of the 
priestly courses, rabbis learned in the literature 
of the church, and elders chosen from the laity. 
It was the body before which Jesus was ar- 
raigned, and subsequently the apostles, as re- 
corded in the Acts (Matt. 26 ; 57, 59 ; Acts 4 : 5 ; 5 : 27 ; 
6:12). 

5. Prophet — Micah 5 : 2. The quotation is 
not exact, but the substantial thought is the 
same. The yery body which subsequently cru- 
cified Jesus as an impostor, officially testifies 
that his birth in Bethlehem fulfills the prophecy 
uttered seven hundred years before respecting 
the Messiah. 

6. Princes. The Jewish nation was divided 
into twelve tribes, each tribe into families. The 
heads or chiefs of these families are here indi- 
cated. In Micah the language is "thousands of 
Judali." Here the term princes stands for the 
family and its city which the prince represented. 
Thus Bethlehem itself was the city of David. 

7. Then Herod when he had secretly 
called the magicians, without the knowl- 
edge of the council, lest his object should be sus- 
pected and defeated. Inquired the exact 
time when the star appeared, that he 
might know what was the exact age of the infant 
whom he wished to slay. 

8. Sent them to Bethlehem. They had 
evidently lost sight of the star (verse io), and de- 
pended on Herod for information where the 
child should be found. I may come, etc. 
His purpose was to make sure of the child that 
he might slay him. 

11. House. The throng brought together by 
the requirement of the census had dispersed, 
and Joseph and Mary were no longer in the stable 
(Luke 2: 7). With Mary. Possibly Joseph was not 
present at the time ; possibly he is not mentioned 
because the Evangelist recognized the fact that 
he was not in reality but only in seeming the 
father of the child. Treasures — chests or 
boxes. It was customary in visits to a sovereign 



to offer him gifts (1 Kings 10 ; 2, &c). Frankin- 
cense — a vegetable resin, obtained by incisions 
in the bark of a tree called the arbor thuris, bit- 
ter to the taste, used for its odor in sacrifices 
(Exod. 30 ; 34-36), and imported by the Hebrews gen- 
erally from Arabia (Isaiah 60 : 6 ; Jeremiah 6 : 20), though 

the best is said to come from Persia. Myrrh — 
an aromatic gum highly prized by the ancients, 
and used in incense and perfumes. It distils 
from incisions from a small thorny tree, which 
grows chiefly in Arabia. It is mentioned in 
Exod. 30 : 23 as one of the ingredients of the holy 
oil ; in Esther 2 : 12, Psalm 45 : 8, Prov. 7 : 17, 
Sol. Song 1 : 13, 3:6, etc., as a perfume. It 
was used also as an anodyne (Mark is : 23), and for 
embalming (John 19 : 39). 

12. Their own country another way. 
They could easily go direct from Bethlehem to 
the Jordan river, leaving Jerusalem to the north 
and west. See map of Palestine. 

2 : 13-23. FLIGHT IST0 EGYPT— Christ comes to 

HIS OWH, AND HIS OWN RECEIVE HIM NOT (John 1 : 
11) ; HE IS CAST OUT OP JUDEA, AND GOES TO THE 
HEATHEN. THUS THE CHRIST-CHILD PROPHESIES THE 
FUTURE OP HIS OWN GOSPEL. — HEROD EXEMPLIFIES 
THE POLLY AND WRETCHEDNESS OP FIGHTING AGAINST 

God (Ps. 2 : 2-4). — Little children are the first 

MARTYRS. EVEN THEY ENTER THE KINGDOM OP 
HEAVEN THROUGH SUFFERING. — THEY ARE THE FIRST 
TO SUFFER, ARE KEPT CLOSEST IN THEIR FATHER'S 

care (Matt. 18 : 10), are greatest in the kingdom 
of heaven (Matt. 18 : 4). — Joseph's implicit obe- 
dience is an example to us. " Duties are ours ; 
events are god's." — christ's humiliation as a 
nazarene prepares for his exaltation as krng 
op kings (Phil. 2 : 5-11). 

13. Arise — at once ; there was no time for 
delay. Into Egypt. It was not more than 
three hundred miles distant, was a Roman pro- 
vince, was much inhabited by Jews, and was in- 
dependent of Herod. It therefore afforded a 
convenient and safe refuge. Jesus was probably 
between one and two years old at this time ; cer- 
tainly not over the latter age (verse 16). 

14. By night. That is, that same night. 



Ch. IL] 



MATTHEW. 



63 



16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked 
of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, 
and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and 
in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, 
according to the time which he had diligently in- 
quired of the wise men. 

17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by 
Jeremy the prophet, saying, 

18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, 
and weeping, and great mourning;, Rachel weeping 



for her children, and would not be comforted, because 
they are not. 

19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of 
the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 

20 Saying, Arise, and take the young childand his 
mother, and go into the land of Israel : lor they are 
dead' which sought the young child's life. 

2i And he arose, and took the young child and hig 
mother, and came into the land of Israel. 
22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in 



verse 7 p Jer. 31 : 15 q Ex. 4 : 19. 



15. Out of Egypt. This prophecy is in 
Hosea 11 : 1. It primarily refers to the nation 
of Israel, and describes what God had done for 
it, ages before the prophet wrote, in the emanci- 
pation of the Jews from slavery. How then is it 
a prophecy of Christ's return from Egypt ? Be- 
cause the historical events in the O. T. are many 
of them prophetic, and point to a fulfillment in 
the New : the raising of the brazen serpent to 
the cross of Christ, the riven rock to the piercing 
of the side of Christ, the emancipation of Israel to 
the greater emancipation of humanity from sin 
by Christ. So the calling of Israel 1500 years 
before out of Egypt was itself a prophecy of the 
fact that Jesus should be called out of Egypt to 
dwell in the land of promise. "The subject of 
all allusions, the represented in all parables and 
dark sayings was He who was to come, or the 
circumstances attendant on his advent and 
reign. ' ' — (Alford. ) 

16. When Herod saAV that he was 
mocked. The Evangelist describes his feel- 
ings ; it was one of rage against them as having 
deceived him and so disappointed him in his 
purpose. Slew all the children — i. e., male 
children ; the number would not have been great 
in a town of the size of Bethlehem. The coasts 
thereof— the borders, i. e., the country in the 
immediate ^cinity. There is no authentic refer- 
ence to this slaughter in secular history ; but it 
accords exactly with what we know of Herod's 

Character. (See on veree 1, above.) 

17. 18. Jeremy. Jeremiah. The passage is 
chap. 31 : ver. 15. Rama — A small town in the 
tribe of Benjamin, and six miles north of Jerusa- 
lem. It was the birth-place and burial-place of 
Samuel, and the spot where Saul was anointed 

king (l Sam. 1 : 19, 20 ; 2:11; 8:4; 19 : 18 ; 25 : l). Not far 

distant from Bamah, yet south of Jerusalem and 
in the more immediate vicinity of Bethlehem, 
was the tomb of Bachel and the supposed place 
of her burial (Gen. 35 : 18-20; 4s : 7). The passage in 
Jeremiah refers originally to an event which oc- 
curred very soon after the prophecy was deliv- 
ered. Jerusalem was captured by Nebuchadnez- 
zar the king of Babylon ; Zedekiah, the king of 
Judea, was taken captive, all his sons were put to 
death before his face, his eyes were then put out, 
and he was carried in chains to Babylon ; the 
walls of Jerusalem were broken down, and the 



chiefs of the city were carried away into captivity ; 
and Jeremiah himself was taken in chains as far 
north as Bamah, the first station where the cap- 
tives with then- guards would rendezvous, where 

he Was released (Jer. ch. 39; 40 : 1-6; 2 Kings ch. 5). It 

was in reference to this event that the prophecy 
in Jer. 31:15 was uttered. "It is," says 
Michaelis, " an exquisite figure. Rachel, during 
all her life ardently desirous of children, dying in 
childbirth, and buried on the border of Benjamin, 
lifts her maternal head from her tomb, looks 
around on the wide waste of ruin, and sees not one 
of her children in all the land I She pours out her 
heart in most bitter tears ; then God appears for 
her consolation." But while this prophecy re- 
ceives its immediate fulfillment in the capture 
of Jerusalem and the terrible events which ac- 
companied it, it received a second and further 
fulfillment in the event recorded in this chapter. 
The one was a type and prophecy of the other. 
"Divine prophecies," says Lord Bacon, "being 
of the nature of their author, with whom a thou- 
sand years are as one day, are not punctually 
fulfilled at once, but have springing and germi- 
nant accomplishment throughout many ages ; " 
and Dr. Wordsworth adds, "have, at length, their 
summer blossom and autumnal ripeness in Christ. " 
19. When Herod was dead. He died 
soon after at about seventy years of age, of a 
dreadful disease, at Jericho. The stay in Egypt 
is variously estimated. Ellicott thinks that not 
over a fortnight elapsed between the flight into 
Egypt and the death of Herod. Greswell allows 
seven months ; other writers make it still longer. 
They are dead. The plural form is often 
used in speaking of kings. It is possible there is 
a reference to those who were concerned in the 
massacre ; perhaps to Antipater, a son of Herod, 
w r ho was put to death by bis father just previous 
to Herod's own death. 

21. Land of Israel. Not the northern por- 
tion of Palestine ; it is here used as a general 
term for the Holy Land. 

22. Archelaus. On the death of Herod the 
Great his kingdom was divided between his three 
sons, Archelaus, Antipas, and Bhihp. Bhilip's 
domains lay all east of the Jordan, and outside of 
that portion of Balestine in which Christ conduct- 
ed his chief ministry. He is referred to in Luke 3 : 
1. Antipas was made tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, 



64 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. II. 



Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid 
to go thither : notwithstanding, being warned of God 
in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee : r 



23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Naza- 
reth : 5 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 
the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. 1 



r ch. 3 : 13; Luke 2:39 s John 1 • 46 . t Num. 6 : 13 : Jud. 13-5; 1 Sam. 1 : 11; Amos 2 : 10-12; Acts 24: 



i. e., the region east of the Jordan. He is called- 
in the N. T., Herod the tetrarch (Matt. 14 : 1 ; Luke 3 : 
19 ; 9 ; 7 ; Acts 13 : 1). To Archelaus fell Idumea, Ju- 
dea, and Samaria. His proper title was ethnarch, 
the kingly title perishing with his father, Herod 
the Great ; but in the beginning of his reign he 
assumed the title of king. This division of the 
kingdom is represented in a map inserted at Luke 
3 : 1. Archelaus was dethroned in the ninth 
year of his reign, and banished to Vienne, in 
Gaul, where he is thought to have died. The 
fear of Joseph was very natural. The Jewish 
deputies in their complaints to Rome of the 
tyranny of Archelaus said, "he seemed to be so 
afraid lest he should not be deemed Herod's own 
son that he took especial care to make his acts 
prove it." See Josephus, Antiq. 17 : 11, 2. 
Notwithstanding, being warned, etc. 
This is ambiguous. It does not mean that he 
went to Galilee despite the fact that he was 
warned of God, but that in consequence of the 
divine direction he did so. He turned aside 
into the parts of Galilee. Matthew writes 
in seeming oblivion of the fact that Joseph and 
Mary came from Galilee in the first instance 
(Luke 2: 4). He may not have known the fact ; or, 
writing chiefly for the Jews, he may have wished 
only to emphasize the fact that the birth of Jesus 
took place at Bethlehem in accordance with 
prophecy. It is observable that throughout his 
account he points out the fulfillment of proph- 
ecy. There are in these first two chapters five 
references to the Hebrew prophets (1 : 22 ; 2 : 5, 6, 15, 
17,18,23). Galilee. The northernmost of three 
provinces or districts into which Palestine, west 
of the Jordan, was divided at the time of Christ. 
(See map.) Its scenery was more rugged than 
that of Judea, its inhabitants a simple, humble 
peasantry ; industrious, unpretending, without 
wealth or culture, but also without those relig- 
ious prejudices which excluded the Gospel from 
the hearts of the Judeans. Twenty of their 
chief cities had been given by Solomon to Hiram, 
king of Tyre (1 Kiugs9 : 11), but had been restored 
to Solomon again (2 chron. 8 : 2). The people had 
intermixed with other and heathen races, and 
thus had lost both Jewish purity and Jewish 
pride. Their very speech was provincial (Matt. 
26 : 73). Galilee was the scene of Christ's most 
abundant labors ; and all his apostles, except 
Judas Iscariot, were Galileans. 

23. Nazareth. Here first mentioned in the 
Bible. It reposes in the bosom of a beautiful 
valley on the northern edge of the plain of Es- 



draelon and about five miles west of Tabor. The 
modern Nazareth is one of the better class of 
Eastern villages and has a population of three or 
four thousand. All the inhabitants of Galilee 
were looked on with contempt by their wealthier 
and more cultured neighbors of Judea ; but 
Nazareth sult'ered under special opprobrium, 
and this among the Galileans as well as among 
the Jews (joim 1 : 46). The origin of this disrepute 
is not known. Called a Nazarene. No spe- 
cific prophecy is referred to ; but probably (this 
at least we think to be the better interpretation) 
those declarations in the prophets which declare 
of the Messiah that he should be despised and 
rejected of men. In fulfillment of this prophecy, 
he was, from the very beginning, known as a cit- 
izen of despised Nazareth (isaiah 53 aaa Ps. 22). 

The Bibth of Jesus. — The incidents connected 
with the birth of Jesus are narrated only by Mat- 
thew and Luke. Mark and John begin his life 
with his baptism. Matthew and Luke do not 
relate the same incidents ; it is only by comparing 
them that we get the entire story. To Matthew 
we are indebted for the account of the betrothal, 
the divine warnings to Joseph, the visit of the 
magi, the flight into Egypt, the return to Naz- 
areth. None of these incidents are mentioned 
by Luke. To Luke we are indebted for the ac- 
count of the annunciation, Mary's psalm of 
thanksgiving, the cause of the visit of Joseph 
and Mary to Bethlehem, the birth of Christ in a 
stable, the visit of the shepherds, the presenta- 
tion of the child at the Temple, and the prophecy 
of Simeon. The probable order is as follows : 
Mary is espoused to Joseph (Matt. 1 : is) ; the 
birth of Jesus is announced to her, possibly be- 
fore her betrothal (Luke 1 : 26-38) ; and she visits 
her cousin Elizabeth and utters her psalm of 
thanksgiving (39-55) ; Joseph discovers that she 
is with child, and is told by God to take her, 
notwithstanding, as his wife (Matt. 1 : 18-25). They 
go up to Bethlehem together, where Jesus is 
born, and the same night the shepherds visit the 
child, having been told of his advent by the 
angels (Luke 2 : 8-20) ; the child is presented in the 
Temple and the prophecy of Simeon is uttered 
(21-38). Meanwhile the star in the east has ap- 
peared to the magi, and they have commenced 
their journey toward Palestine. After a journey 
which occupies several months, they find the 
child, now removed to a house, and offer their 
gifts (Matt. 2 .- 1-12). The flight into Egypt and 
the massacre of the infants follow (13-23) ; and 
the accounts of the two Evangelists come to- 




The carpenter's son. 



[Ch. III. 



MATTHEW. 



65 



CHAPTER III. 

' N those days came John" the Baptist, preaching in 
. the wilderness of Judaea, 



2 And saying, Repent ye : for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand. 

3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet 
Esaias, saving, The voice of one crying in the wilder- 



u Luke 3:2; John 1 : 6. 



gether again with the return of Joseph and Mary 
and the child to Nazareth (Matt. 2 : 23 ; Luke 2 : 39, 40). 
There is no inconsistency in the accounts ; but 
each narrates incidents which the other passes 
by in silence. 



3 : 1-12. PREACHING AND BAPTISM OF JOHN.— See 
on Luke 3 : 1-18. 

1. In those days. A general term, indica- 
ting possibly the days when Jesus was living with 
his parents at Nazareth, but more probably 
simply synonymous with " in that age or era." 
The phrase is used in this way by the Old Testa- 
ment writers, e . g. Exod. 2 : 11, where a long in- 
terval is evidently to be supplied between the 
10th and 11th verse, Moses having grown to 
manhood meanwhile, and similarly by us at the 
present time, e. g. in such phrases as "in these 
days of steam and electricity." An interval of 
about thirty years (Luke 3 : 23) occurred be- 
tween the birth of Jesus and the first public 
preaching of John the Baptist. Concerning the 
life of Jesus meanwhile, only one incident is re- 
corded by the sacred writers (Luke 2 : 41-52). Con- 
cerning Christ's education meanwhile, nothing is 
positively known. He certainly did not receive 
an education in the Rabbinical schools (John 7 : 15, 
and note there). Jewish law required every man to 
teach his son a trade, even though he were des- 
tined to a learned profession as a theologian, 
and it is therefore probable that Christ worked 
at his father's bench learning the art of the car- 
penter (Murk 6 : 3). It is probable, too, that he at- 
tended the synagogue school ; for there was one 
connected with every Jewish synagogue, in which 
the children of the village were taught to read 
and to cipher, and were instructed in their own 
national history and in the Jewish Scriptures, 
and to some extent in the commentaries of the 
scribes thereon. It is certain, from the incident 
recorded in Luke 2 : 41-52, that Jesus early 
showed a great aptitude for religious studies, 
and particularly for the deeper truths of re- 
ligion. Meanwhile, great political changes had 
taken place in Palestine. Archelaus had been 
banished, the semblance of kingly authority pos- 
sessed by Herod the Great had been taken away, 
and Judea was ruled directly by the Romans, 
through a governor or procurator, Pontius Pi- 
late. Galilee continued under the rule of Herod 
Antipas, and all of Christ's life and ministry con- 
tinued under the civil administration of these 
two men, Antipas in Galilee and Pontius Pilate 
in Judea (Luke 3 : 1). 



John the Baptist. He was the son of Eliz- 
abeth, a cousin of Mary, and was, therefore, a 
second cousin of Jesus. The circumstances of 
his birth are recorded in Luke 1. He was a Naz- 

ai'ite (Luke 1 : 15, and note there ; for an account of the vows of a 
Nazarite, see Numb. ch. 6) ; had shut himself Up to a 

solitary life of prayer and meditation (Luke l : so), 
from which he emerged to preach the doctrine 
of repentance as a preparation for the coming of 
the kingdom of God. His character was that of 
an ascetic ; he dressed in a rough garment woven 
of camel's hair, and lived on locusts and wild 
honey, food furnished him by the wilderness 
(see below, ver. 4). A fuller account of his preaching 
is given in Luke 3 : 4-18 ; it, however, changed in 
its nature after the baptism of Christ, from 
which time he preached not only repentance and 
good works as a fruit of repentance, but also' 
faith in the Lamb of God that taketh away sin 
(John i : 29-36; 3 : 25-36). Preaching, literally, pro- 
claiming as a herald. As one runs before a king 
announcing his coming, so John the Baptist came 
before Christ proclaiming the coming of the 
kingdom of God. Wilderness of Judea. The 
region between Jerusalem and the river Jordan 
and the Dead Sea. " This tract was not strictly 
a desert, but thinly peopled, and abounding in 
pasture for flocks."— (Alford.) The idea em- 
bodied is simply that he was ministering, not in 
the city and under the influence of the hierarchy, 
but in the country, and had rural habits and a 
rural education. The region is more definitely 
fixed by Luke 3 : 3, and by his baptism of the 
people, as being in the immediate vicinity of the 
river Jordan. He was at this time about thirty 
years of age, the age when, if he had intended 
to enter the priesthood inherited from his father, 
he should have come up to Jerusalem to be ex- 
amined by the Sanhedrim. 

2. Repent. This word in the Greek is com- 
posed of two words— (,"«*«'), after, and (mica), to 
perceive, i. e., to perceive afterwards ; hence, to 
change one's view, mind, or purpose. It has 
been even translated change your minds. But- 
this, in the sense in which those words are ordi- 
narily used, appears to be clearly inadequate. 
No idea of sorrow for sin is involved in the icord; 
and though certainly genuine repentance does 
necessarily involve sorrow for the past, the radi- 
cal and fundamental idea is, not so much sorrow 
as a change ; a change, however, be it observed, 
not merely of conduct, but of the thinking and 
immortal part— a change of one's view of life 
and truth, and a consequent change of one's pur- 



06 



MATTHEW. 



Ch. III.] 



ness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths 
straight. 

4 And the same John had his raiment" of camel's 
hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins ; and his 
meat was locusts* and wild honey. 



5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, arid all Judaea, 
and all the region round about Jordan, 

6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing? 
their s ns. 

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sad- 



ch. 11: 8; 2 Kings 1 :8....x Lev. 11 : 22.... y Acta 1 : 5 ; 2 : 88 ; 19 : 4, 5, 18. 



pose regarding life. It is interpreted by John 
himself in his directions to the people when they 
asked him what they should do (Luke 3 : 10-14), 
and by Jesus in the parable of the Prodigal Son, 
who gave evidence of his • repentance not by 
tears, but by leaving the far country and his old 
companions, and his sins and consequent wretch- 
edness, and returning to his father with confes- 
sion and a humble prayer for pardon. "In the 
N. T., especially in St. Luke and in the Revela- 
tions, it denotes a change of moral thought and 
reflection;" hence, "to repent of anything is 
not only to forsake it, but to change one's mind 
and apprehensions regarding it." — (Cremer'' s Bib- 
lical Theol. Diet, of N. T. Greek.) Another Greek 
word is used in four passages in the N. T., which 
is unfortunately translated repent (Matt. 21 : 29, 32 ; 
27 : 3 ; 2 Cor. 7:8; Hco. 7 : 2i). This word involves more 
distinctly the idea of sorrow, and it is evident 
from its use in Matt. 27 : 3, that the idea which it 
embodies — sorrow in consequence of sin — is not 
the fundamental or principal element in a true re- 
pentance. 

- Kingdom of Heaven. This phrase is used 
only by Matthew. The synonymous phrase, 
Kingdom of God, is used by Mark and Luke, 
"writing more especially for the Gentiles, who 
were to be disabused of their notion of local 
Deities, and taught the unity of God." — (Words- 
worth.) Sometimes the phrase Kingdom alone is 
used, without any explanatory word (Matt. 8:12 j 
e : 35, etc.). The phrase appears, at first sight, to 
be used in different senses, but the meanings are 
really essentially the same. It always indicates 
a state of cheerful submission to the will of God 
as the Supreme King. When applied to the in- 
dividual, it denotes that state of heart in which 
God's will is recognized as the Supreme author- 
ity (Matt. 6 ; 3). Applied to the community, it in- 
dicates the advent of the Messiah as the Supreme 
Lord (in which sense it is used here by John the 
Baptist), or his final advent, when all will recog- 
nize his supreme authority (Matt, is : 28). Applied 
to the future life, it indicates that state in which 
there shall be perfect submission by every heart 
to the Divine will (Matt. 25 : 34). The expressions 
' ' Kingdom of Heaven ' ' and ' ' Kingdom of God ' ' 
are common in the rabbinical writers, who gen- 
erally mean the theocracy, and who expected in 
the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven the 
restoration of political power to the Jews and 
Jewish rulers, and hence to themselves, just as 
to the Romanist the supremacy of the church 



indicates, not the triumph of the principles of 
Christ in all organizations, but the political su- 
premacy of the pope and the priesthood. The 
peculiarity of the preaching of John the Baptist 
was that he taught that all the people, Jews as 
well as Gentiles, priests as well as people, must 
change their views of truth, their moral concep- 
tions of God and his kingdom, and their moral 
purposes respecting their own life, in order to 
enter into this kingdom. Thus it approached 
the preaching of Jesus to Nicodemus in his de- 
claration, " except a man be born again he cannot 
see the kingdom of God." 

3. Esaias — Greek form of Isaiah. The pas- 
sage is chap. 40 : 3. The prophet, contemplat- 
ing the restoration of the Jews from their cap- 
tivity in Babylon, announces the mission of John 
the Baptist as a herald of the Messiah. Some 
commentators regarded this passage as primarily 
a prophecy of the restoration of the Jews from 
Babylon, and so fulfilled long before the birth of 
John the Baptist, to whom they regard it as only 
applicable by a sort of accommodation (see Mr. Barnes 
on Isaiah 40 : 3). The better opinion (so Alford, 
Henderson and Cowles) regards it as more prob- 
ably referring wholly to John ; " first, because 
the words are expressly quoted by three of the 
inspired Evangelists as receiving their fulfillment 

in John (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3 : 4-6) J and Sec- 
ondly, because the way was to be prepared not 
for the Jews but for Jehovah himself." The 
language here is not that of John the Baptist but 
that of Matthew respecting him. It is not " I 
am," but "this is." But John himself refers to 
the same prophecy, and to himself as its fulfill- 
ment (John l : 23). Isaiah's symbol is borrowed 
from a common practice among Eastern mon- 
archs, whose kingdoms possessed no such broad 
highways as modern civilization has formed for 
all the people, and who therefore, on setting out 
on any great journey, were accustomed to send out 
pioneers to open roads through the wilderness for 
them, cutting through the hills and the forests, 
and filling up the hollows. Such a preparation 
for Christ's coming was the preaching of John 
the Baptist ; it was his mission to awaken the 
expectations of an inert and sluggish people ; 
and he succeeded wonderfully in this work (Luke 

3 : 15). 

4. Camel's hair. Not the camel's skin with 
the hair on, but a garment made of the shaggier 
camel's hair, woven into a coarse fabric like our 
drugget. It was recognized as a garb of the 



[Ch. III. 



MATTHEW. 



67 



prophets (zech. 13 : 4), and is still worn in the East 
by the poor or those who affect austerity. His 
dress resembled that of Elijah, and in this respect 
also he fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi 4 : 5, 
being in other respects than his attire and ascetic 
habits an antitype of Elijah (Matt. 11 : 14). Lo- 
custs and wild honey. "Locusts" have 
been thought to designate, not the insect of that 
name, but the long sweet pods of the locust tree, 
which are still called St. John's bread by the 
monks of Palestine. Tnis is a mistake. The 
locust proper was permitted as an article of food 
by Moses (Lev. 11 : 22). Different species of the 
family are referred to in the Bible, generally in 
connection with their great numbers, or the dev- 
astations which they commit (Exod. 10 : 12-15; Deut. 
ss ; 38 ; Joel i : 4-7). They are, however, eaten in all 
parts of the world which they frequent, and in 
some places form an important article of food, 
especially among the peasantry and lower classes. 
In Palestine they are eaten either roasted or 
boiled in salt and water ; but when preserved for 
future use they are dried in the sun, their heads, 
wings and legs picked off, and the bodies 
ground into dust. This dust has naturally a 
rather bitter flavor, which is corrected by mix- 
ing it with camel's milk or honey, the latter 
being the favorite substance ; hence we may sup- 
pose that the food of John the Baptist was, like 
his dress, that of those of the people who lived 
at a distance from towns, and that there was no 
more hardship in the one than in the other. 
Wild honey. This existed in such abundance 
in the trunks of trees and the crevices of the 
rocks that to the ancient Israelites the land was 
described as "flowing with milk and honey" 
(Exod. 3 : 8). There is a "honey," so called, 
which exudes from the trees, and which has 
been supposed to be referred to here and in 
1 Sam. 14 : 25 ; but the supposition is unnecessary 
and improbable. In some parts of northern Ara- 
bia the bees are said to be so abundant that no 
sooner is a hive deposited than it is filled. Com- 
pare Samson's experience in Judg. 14 : 5-9. 

5. Then went out to him Jerusalem, 
etc. Not merely persons from these localities, 
but such multitudes that it might be said that 
. all Judea was there ; so we say now on the occa- 
sion of a great procession, all New York turned 
out to see it (compare ii -. 7-15). About Jordan — 
i. e., the regions in the vicinity of Jordan besides 
Judea and Jerusalem. It would include parts 
of Perea, Samaria, Galilee, and Gaulonitis. (See 
map.) Among those that came were a delega- 
tion from the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, and sev- 
eral Galileans who subsequently became Christ's 
disciples (John 1 : 15, 35-45). It should be added that 
the best chronologists are of the opinion that 
John commenced his preaching in the Sabbatical 
year (see Andrews' Life of our Lord, p. 139), 



when the laws of Moses forbade all agricultural 
labor, and the people, relieved from their ordi- 
nary toil, were at leisure for the hearing of the 

truth (Exod. 23: 10, 11; Lev. 25: 2-7; Deut. ch. 15). 

The Jordan — the principal river of Palestine. 
It rises among the Lebanon mountains in the 
north of Palestine, and flows almost exactly due 
south, first through a marshy plain to the Lake 
Huleh or Merom (josh, n : 5), then about nine miles 
to the Lake of Gennesaret or Sea of Galilee, de- 
scending in this distance 600 feet, and reaching, 
at the surface of the lake, a point 653 feet below 
the surface of the Mediterranean, and thence 
issuing a headlong torrent, crooked and precip- 
itous, through a narrow and desolate valley, 
occupying 200 miles in its course, though trav- 
ersing but 60 in a straight line, falling rapidly 
meanwhile, and finally issuing in the Dead or 
Salt Sea, whose surface is over 1300 feet below 
the level of the Mediterranean. Its average 
width between the two seas is from 70 to 80 
yards, though at its mouth it is 180 yards. (Mr. 
Barnes says ninety feet, bu^ this is evidently an 
error. See Lieut. Lynch's report.) The Jordan 
thus divides the Holy Land into two sections 
very clearly separated, partly by its waters, yet 
more by the valley or gorge through which it 
flows. This separation exerted an important in- 
fluence on the history of the Jewish people, a 
part of the tribes, Reuben, Gad, and half of Ma- 
nasseh remaining, in the distribution of the land, 
east of the Jordan, and never fully assimilating 
with their brethren. In O. T. times this region 
is described sometimes as the land " on this side 
Jordan" (Numb. 32: 19), and sometimes as the land 
"beyond Jordan" (josh. 13: s), or "the other side 
Jordan" ( Josh. 7: 7), according as the location of 
the writer is east or west of the river. But the 
phrase "beyond Jordan," in the N. T. (johni: zs; 
3 : 26), signifies the district east of the river. It is 
known in secular history by the name Perea, sig- 
nifying "beyond." 

6. And was baptized. See note below on 
baptism of Jesus. Confessing their sins. 
The idea of a public and united confession ap- 
pears to be involved in the original Greek word, 
which is composed of three words (ex o/.iog Xeyu>) 
and signifies to speak out together. It is clear, 
both from this word and from Luke 3 : 10-15, 
that it is not a private confession to John which 
is indicated, and that the passage affords no 
foundation for the doctrine of auricular confes- 
sion, in support of which it has been quoted. 
The same word is used in Acts 19 : 18, where the 
confession evidently was open and public, and in 
James 5 : 16, where the original shows that a 
mutual and common confession of faults, not a 
private confession to the ear of the priest alone, 
is intended. 

7. Pharisees and Sadducees. Phari- 



G8 



MATTHEW. 



Oh. III.] 



sees. This term meets us here for the first time 
in the Bible. The Pharisees are generally defined 
as. a Jewish sect, but in fact they constituted the 
orthodox party in Judaism, and embraced the 
great body of the people. Historically the Phar- 
isees were the reformers of the second century 
before Christ. The sect arose as a protest against 
heathen corruptions during the period subse- 
quent to the captivity. The two characteristic 
features of their creed were faith in immortality 
and faith in the absolute decrees of God. They 
believed that all things were oi'dered by his will, 
that nothing therefore went wrong. They bor- 
rowed their hope from the future, and believed 
that whatever appeared to go wrong here God 
would set right hereafter. But the laws of 
Moses contain no clear revelation of any future 
state. In the main they represent God's gov- 
ernment as administered by temporal rewards 
and punishments. The Pharisees, accordingly, 
invented a singular fiction to give authority to 
their belief. They asserted that during the forty 
days which Moses spent in the Mount, Jehovah 
gave him an additional revelation, in which he 
promulgated the doctrine of a future life and 
the duty of prayer, and afforded an authoritative 
interpretation of all the written law. This addi- 
tional revelation, it was said, had been handed 
down orally from generation to generation, and 
it was regarded by the rabbis as of equal bind- 
ing force with the Scriptures. Such a doctrine 
opened wide the door to corruption. These oral 
traditions soon outgrew the written word, and 
became to the Pharisees what, in the middle 
ages, the decrees of the Church were to the 
Romanist. The Scriptures took a subordinate 
place ; to read them, except in the light of the 
authoritative interpretation, was denounced as 
equivalent to atheism. This doctrine led in the 
first century, as in the middle ages, to a rigorous 
but fruitless ceremonialism. All outward forms 
of the law were observed by the Pharisaic lead- 
ers ; but to personal morals they were for the 
most part profoundly indifferent (see Matt. 15 : 2-6, 
and note there). It is true that some of the rabbis 
inculcated a pure and high-toned morality, but 
more frequently the spirit of even their purest 
ethics was mercenary. The basis of their moral- 
ity was the maxim, "Consider for whom thou 
dost work, and what is thy master who will pay 
thee thy wages." There were among the Phari- 
sees some pure spirits, who desired if they did 
not fully appreciate a more spiritual religion, 
and who thus were in some measure prepared 
for at least the ethical teachings of Jesus (Luke 10 : 

6-28 ; Mark 12 : 33 ; 15 ; 43 ; John 7 : 50 ; Acts 15 : 5). But this 

party was neither strong in numbers nor in cour- 
age. Thus despite some pure precepts in their 
inculcations, the characteristic feature of their 
religion was a pious formalism thinly covering 



an intensely selfish spirit. They fasted and 
prayed with great regularity and precision, but 
generally in public and for applause. They paid 
tithes of all they possessed, but their almsgiving 
was without genuine love. They ignored the 
precepts of religion in their lives, but were care- 
ful to inscribe them on pieces of parchment 
bound on their foreheads, and to engrave them 
upon the lintels of their doors. Religion became 
a trade. "Three things." so ran their proverb, 
"will make thee prosper — prayer, alms, and 
penitence." They were not all hypocrites ; there 
were many honest but mistaken souls among 
them. Such was Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of 
the Pharisees. Their hypocrisy, too, was for 
the most part unconscious, and they hid from 
themselves more effectually than from others 
the selfishness of their hearts by the rigor of 
their lives. This was the school which consti- 
tuted Christ's bitterest foe while he lived, which 
compassed his death, and which endeavored in 
vain to destroy the effect of his teachings. And 
it is hardly too much to say that the spirit of 
Pharisaism has continued to be in all ages the 
most dangerous and deadly enemy of Christian- 
ity, even when it has assumed the name and pre- 
tended to revere the memory of Jesus Christ. 

Sadducees. The infidels and materialists of 
the first century. They probably derive their 
name from one Zadok, who is supposed to have 
been their founder. They maintained that jus- 
tice is administered in this life, denied the exist- 
ence of the soul beyond the grave, repudiated 
not only the oral tradition of the Pharisees, but 
also the books of the Bible, except the Penta- 
teuch ; insisted, theoretically, that virtue should 
be practiced for its own sake, not for the sake of 
any hoped-for reward ; denied, not the existence 
of a God, but his control over and interest in the 
affairs of men ; were naturally led by this theol- 
ogy into a loose and easy morality, the motto of 
which was, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
we die :" and were quite ready to affiliate with 
the Gentiles if place, power, or wealth could be 
obtained by so doing. The Pharisees were pop- 
ular with the common people, who revered them 
for the real austerity of their doctrine and the 
seeming austerity of their lives. The Sadducees 
consisted wholly of men of a cold and heartless 
culture, but embraced a considerable portion of 
the priestly class, who performed with uncon- 
cern ceremonies in which they no longer had any 
faith. Their philosophy was a purely negative 
philosophy, though the same principles reappear 
in new forms from age to age, in the same or a 
similar class of minds. Sadduceeism, as a dis- 
tinct school of philosophy, has long since per- 
ished from Judea, and not even a trace of its in- 
fluence or a remnant of its literature has survived, 
except that which is incidentally found in the 



Oh. III.] 



MATTHEW. 



69 



ducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O gen- 
eration?, of vipers, who hath warned you to flee" irom 
the wrath to come? 



8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance : 

9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have 
Abraham to our father : for I say unto you, that God 



z ch. 12 : 34; 23 : 33 ; Isa. 59 : 5 ; Luke 3:7 a Jer. 51 : 6 ; Rom. 1 : 18. 



four Gospels and in the writings of the theologi- 
cal opponents of the Sadducees, the Pharisees. 

To this mention of the two principal Jewish 
sects or schools of philosophy should be added, 
perhaps here, a paragraph concerning a third, 
which is not, however, directly referred to in the 
N. T. — the Essenes, who may be briefly described 
as the Shakers of their age. " They lived in 
communities by themselves. They discouraged 
marriage. The higher orders forbade it. They 
maintained an absolute community of goods. 
They abhorred alike war, slavery, and commerce. 
Their wages were regulated by an inflexible sys- 
tem, administered by an absolute ecclesiastical 
superior. The hours of prayer, meals, labor, 
were all fixed by rigorous rules. Their doctrine 
was simple, but mystical. Their morals were 
pure, but austere. Their religious forms were 
observed with a rigor which even surpassed that 
of the Pharisees, but were accompanied with a 
life of practical virtue which rarely found a par- 
allel in the Pharisaic life. They were initiated 
into the order by a secret service and a novitiate 
of three years, and were, at its close, bound by 
the most solemn oaths ' to observe piety, justice, 
obedience, honesty, and secrecy.' For violation 
of his oath, the offender was excommunicated. 
Having sworn that he would receive no food save 
from his own sect, and driven by excommunica- 
tion from their table, he perished miserably of 
starvation. Four thousand of these ascetics 
lived in settlements of their own, chiefly in the 
wild region which borders the Dead Sea. They 
did not intermingle with their own countrymen. 
They exerted no influence upon the religious 
opinions and practices of their neighbors. They 
never seem to have come in contact with Christ." 
— (Abbott's Jesus of Nazareth.) Ithas been soberly 
maintained by De Quincy that this latter sect 
were disciples of Christ, who were misrepre- 
sented by Josephus, from whom most of our 
knowledge of them is derived, while other and 
skeptical critics have endeavored to maintain 
that Christianity was itself an outgrowth of Es- 
senism. Neither view, however, has any warrant 
in history. The strongest antagonism exists be- 
tween the life of bondage of the one and the 
spirit of freedom of the other. Doubtless the 
monastic habits of early and mediaeval Christian- 
ity were analogous to those of the Essenes, but 
they were not in accordance with the precepts of 
Jesus Christ. 

Come to his baptism. Why ? Some think 
to oppose it. This is not probable, and there is 
nothing in the account to indicate it. It is clear, 



on the other hand, from Matt. 21 : 32, and Luke 
7 : 30, 33, that the Pharisees were not in any con- 
siderable number baptized by John. Apparently, 
his preaching had produced a very great agita- 
tion, and they came as onlookers, and to some 
extent as inquirers. The latter fact is indicated 
by the statement of John (1 : 19), that a delega- 
tion were sent out from Jerusalem to inquire re- 
specting him. Offspring of vipers, in contrast 
with their proud belief that they were the favor- 
ites of God because the children of Abraham 
(verse 9 ; and compare analogous contrast in 
Christ's teaching, John 8 : 39, 44). The viper was 
a species of serpent ; but the term is here used 
as a general term, and equivalent to serpent, 
which was among the Jews a symbol of cunning 
(Gen. 3 : 1), and malice (ps. 58 : 4), and an emblem of 
the devil (Gen. 3, Rev. 12 : 9, 14, 15) ; so that this phrase, 
offspring of vipers, was analogous to the subse- 
quent declaration of Christ, that the Pharisees 
were of their "father the devil." Vehemence of 
invective may be rarely right ; but it cannot be 
always condemned. There are times when noth- 
ing else will awaken the conscience and start 
the sluggish soul. The wrath to come. The 
prophet Malachi, who had foretold the coming 
of John the Baptist, also foretold that his advent 
would be followed by "the great and dreadful 
day of the Lord" (Mai. 3 : 1-3 ; 4 : 5), as it was by 
the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion 
of the Jews among all lands, witnessed by some 
of that generation and probably by some of John 
the Baptist's auditors. For among his audience 
is believed to have been John the Evangelist 

(John 1:35; 41, and note fliere), who was still living at 

the destruction of Jerusalem. The primary ref- 
erence here undoubtedly is to this wrath so soon 
to come upon the nation, though it as undoubt- 
edly refers secondarily to that greater and more 
dreadful day of the Lord, the day of final judg- 
ment, of which we have, in Matt. ch. 24, Christ's 
own warrant for asserting the destruction of Je- 
rusalem to be a symbol. 

8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy 
of a change of heart. Compare Matt. 7:16, 
19. For a catalogue of the fruits of the new life, 
see Gal. 5 : 22, 23 ; and 2 Peter 1 : 5-7. Observe, 
first, that John and Christ, as well as the apos- 
tles, call for something more than fruits, viz. : a 

Change Of Character (compare Join 3:3; 2 Cor. 5:17); 

and second, that they recognize as an evi- 
dence of a change of heart, not a creed, a cere- 
mony, or a profession, but fruits worthy of repent- 
arm. Compare Matt. 7 : 21-23 ; John 14 : 21 ; 
Romans, ch. 12 ; James 2 : 14-17. See the whole 



70 



MATTHEW. 



is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abra- 
ham. 

10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the 
trees : therefore every tree which bringeth not forth 
good fruit, is hewn" down, and cast into the fire. 



[Oh. III. 



ii I indeed baptize you with water unto repent- 
ance : but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, 
whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall baptize 
you d with the Holy Ghost, and with fire : 

12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly 



b John 15 : 6 c Luke 3:16; Acts 19 : 4 d Acts 1 : 5. 



truth embodied in Ephes. 2 : 10. We are God's 
workmanship, but we are created unto good 
works. 

9. And do not fancy that you may 
say in yourselves. He interprets their own 
plea, not uttered, but secretly nourished in their 
own hearts. We have Abraham to our 
father. Contrast with verse 7 above. The 
common Jewish idea, especially the Pharisaic 
idea, was that the children of Abraham were fa- 
vored of God. Says the Talmud: "A single Is- 
raelite is worth more before God than all the 
people who have been or shall be." A similar 
feeling underlies the pride of birth, wherever it 
exists. The ideas set in contrast are that which 
regard moral character as an inheritance, and so 
the exclusive prerogative of a few, and that 
which declared it to be the gift of God, and avail- 
able to all. Compare John 1 : 13, and note there. 
Of these stones. The pebbles or shingle en 
the beach of the Jordan. Out of the unlearned 
and despised fishermen of Galilee he raised up 
his apostles (John 7 : 48). Out of the hated and 
outcast Gentiles he built up the new church, the 
"new Jerusalem." The head of the corner was 
itself a "stone which the builders despised" 
(Matt. 21 : 42). So God daily raiseth up children to 
himself from the stones of the desert ; the church 
is not made up from the rich and wise (1 Cor. 
i : 26-28) ; stony hearts he converts to hearts of 

flesh (Ezek. 36 : 26). 

10. Is laid at the root, ready for use. The 
cutting down of the unfaithful nation has not 
yet commenced, but everything has been made 
ready for it (compare Luke 13 : 6-9). Every tree, 
etc. The only measure of character is its 
fruit-bearing character (compare John 15 : 2). Is cut 
down. The present form of the verb indi- 
cates that John speaks of a law always operat- 
ing in God's kingdom. He always destroys what 
has ceased to serve a useful purpose ; the nation 
that no longer serves humanity, as Persia, Baby- 
lon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, is dissolved ; the tree 
that no longer bears fruit for food, or leaves for 
shade, perishes ; the soul that ceases to bear any 
fruit for God and humanity is destroyed. The 
destruction may be, and often is, delayed to give 
space for repentance ; but it is inevitable, except 
by repentance and faith the character is changed 
and made fruitful (Luke 13 : 6-9; Rom. 2 : 4-io). Cast 
into the fire. The destruction is final. There 

is no restoration (compare Matt. 13 : 30 ; Luke 3 : 17 ; John 

15 ■ 6 ; Heb. 6 -. 8). In these and similar passages fire 



is used as a symbol of utter destruction, not of 
purification. 

11. In water. Not with water. The Greek 
preposition (iv), here translated with, properly 
signifies in, and certainly should be so trans- 
lated here. It implies that John's baptism 
involved a going into the water, though not neces- 
sarily complete immersion in it. See note below. 
Unto repentance. It was not Christian bap- 
tism, i. e., in the name of the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, which was not established 
until after Christ's resurrection. See below. Is 
mightier than I. "I call to repentance, he 
remits sin ; I preach the kingdom of heaven, he 
bestows it. I baptize with water, he with the 
Spirit also." — (Wordsworth.) Whose shoes I 
am not worthy to bear. In the other Gos- 
pels it is " to Unloose ' ' (Mark 1:7; Luke 3:16; John 1 : 

27). It was the office of the slave to loose the 
shoe, to tie the same, or to carry it with other 
necessary articles of apparel before his master to 
the bath. Shoes proper were worn by the 
Greeks and Eomans, but it appears to be the 
better opinion of biblical scholars that the Jews 
wore only, or at least chiefly, sandals which con- 
sisted simply of a sole fastened to the foot, and 
protecting its lower but not its upper surface. 
It was fastened to the foot by thongs or straps. 
It was sometimes beautifully ornamented, in- 
wrought with lines of gold, silver, or silk, and 
occasionally embroidered with jewels. The ma- 
terials were either leather, felt, cloth, or wood. 
It was occasionally shod with iron. Palm-leaves 
and papyrus-stalks were also sometimes used. 
Shoes or sandals do not appear to have been 
worn at all periods as with ourselves : they were 
laid aside when in-doors, and only put on by per- 
sons about to leave home. In the Holy Spirit 
and fire. A prophecy literally fulfilled at the 
Pentecost (Acts 2 : i^i). Observe that the same 
language is used here as before respecting water, 
in not with. Yet the apostles were not im- 
mersed in fire. There is, says Jerome, a three- 
fold baptism with fire : the fire of the Holy 
Spirit as at Pentecost (so termed because it makes 
the recipient fervent, that is, burning in spirit, 
Rom. 12 : 11), the fire of earthly trials (which are 
compared to a fire because of their purifying 
power, 1 Pet. 1:7; 4 : 12, 13), and the fire which 
at the last shall try every man's work, the great 
trial which is to test all life and character (i Cor. 
3 : 13). While John simply offers a symbolical 
test of character, the willingness of his hearers 



Ch. III.] 



MATTHEW. 



71 



purge e his floor, and gather his wheat into the gamer ; | be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfill all right- 



but he will burn up the chaff f with unquenchable 
fire. 

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto 
John, to be baptized? of him. 

14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be 
baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? 

15 And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to 



eousness. Then he suffered him. 

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up 
straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens 
were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God b 
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him : 

17 And, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my 
beloved' Son, in whom I am well pleased. 



Mai. 3: 2,3. 



.f Ps. 1 :4; Mai. 4: 1; Mark 9 :44....g Mark 1:9; Luke 3 : 21. 
Luke 9 : 36 ; Eph. 1 : 6 ; 2 Pel. 1 



.h Isa. 11:2:4-2:1; 61 : 1 ; John 3 : 34. . . .1 Pa. 2 : 7 ; 



to acknowledge publicly their sins, and profess 
their change of purpose by a water baptism, 
Christ would test them by earthly trials and by 
his final judgment. While John could only bid 
them repent, and symbolize their purification by 
the washing of water, Jesus would really purify 
them, and give them a new heart by the Holy 
Spirit, and the fire of divine life and love. 

12. Whose fan, etc. A metaphor drawn from 
the method of threshing and winnowing pursued 
in the Holy Land. A level spot was selected for 
the threshing-floor, in a situation where advan- 
tage might be taken of the wind for winnowing 
or separating the grain from the chaff ; the 
sheaves, being thickly spread on the floor, were 
trodden down by oxen driven over them, or by a 
threshing instrument or sledge made of thick 
planks, the bottom being studded with sharp 
stones or pieces of iron, or sometimes made with 
rollers of wood, iron or stone. Sometimes for 
lighter grains flails or rods were used. By these 
processes the straw was broken up, and the grain 
separated from it. A shovel or "fan" was also 
used for winnowing. This was done by throwing 
the grain against the wind, and thus separating 
it from the chaff. Chaff. All that is not wheat, 
including the straw, which was commonly used 
in the East for fuel. Unquenchable lire. 
" Lest after the winnowing the chaff should be 
blown back and mingled with the wheat, the 
Jews were accustomed to put fire to it at the 
windward side, which was only extinguished 
when it had utterly consumed the chaff. In this 
sense it was an 'unquenchable fire.' " — (Burders' 
Oriental Customs. See Isaiah 5 : 21.) For the 
spiritual significance of this passage compare 
Matt. 13 : 24-30, 36-43, 47-50. It is not only in 
the future that Christ will sift out the straw 
from the wheat. His fan is in his hand ; the 
sifting process is going on now ; his Gospel is 
measuring men ; every day is a day of judg- 
ment. 

For a consideration of John the Baptist's char- 
acter and preaching see Luke 3 : 18, and note 
there. 

Ch. 3:13-17. BAPTISM OF JESUS. — See note 

BELOW. 

13. Then. The time is uncertain. Jesus 
was about thirty years of age (Luke 3 ■. 23). To 
Jordan. Beyond Jordan (John 1 : 28; see note there) ; 
the exact site is unknown. 

3 



14. John forbad him. Rather sought to 
hinder him. " The word implies the active and 
earnest preventing with the gesture, or hand, or 
voice." — (Alford.) (Compare John 1:33, and 
note there.) I have need to be baptized of 
thee. With the Holy Spirit and fire (verse 11). 

15. Now. Compare John 13:7, 8. Us. 
Not merely me, but you and me. To fulfill all 
righteousness. You by yielding to the will of 
your Lord, even in a matter the propriety of 
which you do not understand (John 13 : 7) ; me by 
taking my place under the law, and acting as one 
made in the image of sin, though I know no sin 
(Matt. 17 : 27). See note below. 

16. From the water, not out of the water. 
The Greek preposition here is not (lx) out of, 
but (unu) from. The same preposition is used 
in Matt. 8 : 1, from the mountain, which clearly 
does not mean out of the mountain. In Mark 
1 : 10 the preposition is (£x), out of, in the best 
manuscripts. But nothing is very clearly indi- 
cated as to the mode of baptism by the phrase- 
ology employed in either place. (See note be- 
low.) And, lo, the heavens. The Greek 
word here employed sometimes signifies the 
starry firmament, the blue canopy (Mark 13 : 25; 
Rev. 6 : 13, u) ; sometimes the clouds and the cloud 
region (Matt, g : 26 ; air, 26 : 64). Opened. Com- 
pare the experience of Stephen (Acts 7 : 56) and 
of Peter (Acts 10 : 11). He saw. Christ, and 
also John the Baptist (John 1 : 30-34). There is 
nothing to indicate that the opening of the heav- 
ens or the descending of the dove were seen by 
any others. The vision in Stephen's case appears 
to have been confined to him ; and at the time 
of Saul's conversion, while a sound was heard 
by the men who accompanied, him, they saw 
no man and understood not the meaning of 
the words addressed to Saul (compare Acts 9 : 7, with 
22:9). Moreover, it was not the divine way 
to manifest the character of Jesus by such mani- 
festations to the multitude. These were af- 
forded only to those who already believed on 
him because of the supreme excellence of his 
character and teachings, as in the transfigura- 
tion, which was seen only by Peter, James, and 
John, and in the ascension, which was witnessed 

Only by the disciples (Matt. 17 : 1 ; Acts 1 : 9 ; compare 

Matt. 12:39). Descending like a dove. In 
Mark, 1:10, the language is, "like a dove 
descending. " The plain meaning is, not merely 



72 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. III. 



that the Spirit descended as a dove descends, but 
that John and Jesus saw the Spirit taking on the 
form and appearance of a dove, and so descend- 
ing. The dove was a sacrificial animal which the 
poorest could afford, and which, in the case of 
the poor, was permitted as a substitute for a 
more costly sacrifice (Lev. 5 : 7). If the worship- 
per could buy none, he could catch one of the 
wild pigeons which dwell among the hills of 
Palestine (jer. 4s : 28 ; Sol. song 2 : 14). Its coming was 
one of the prophecies of spring (sol. song 2 : 12, 

where "turtle" signifies a turtle-dove). It; Was histor- 
ically connected in the Jewish mind with the 
abatement of the waters after the flood, and has 
become, as well as the olive-branch, a symbol of 
peace among all Christian people (Gen. 8 : s-n), and 
it is referred to by Christ as a symbol of harm- 
lessness and gentleness. It was thus a fitting 
emblematic form for the Holy Spirit to take on 
in giving a divine endorsement to him who is a 
sacrifice for all, whose coming brings life to the 



world, and the assurance of the peace of God to 
the soul which accepts him, and who was holy, 
harmless, undefiled, separate from 6inners (Heb. 
7 : 26). There is not a shadow of basis for the old 
gnostic notion, which some have since attempted 
to revive, that Christ received at this time, the 
gift of the Holy Spirit, and though before a mere 
man, now first became in a true sense the Son of 
God. Lighting upon him. He was praying 
at the time (Luke 3 : 21). "The ordinances of re- 
ligion will commonly be ineffectual without 
prayer." — (Barnes.) John (1:32) tells us that 
"it abode upon him." That is, it was not a 
mere transient vision. 

17. A voice from heaven. Compare Matt. 
17 : 5 ; John 12 : 28 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 17. My beloved 
Son. Christians are called "sons of God" 
(1 Join 3:2); but nowhere is the term beloved Son 
applied by God to any one but Jesus Christ, to 
whom it is given both here and in the hour of his 
transfiguration (Matt, n : 5). 



NOTE ON THE BAPTISM OF JESUS BY JOHN. 



The ceremony of baptism performed by John, 
which has given him his title, the Baptist or 
Baptizer (Matt. 3 . 1 ; 11 : 11, 12, etc.), is intimately con- 
nected with the rite of Baptism maintained in 
the Christian Church ever since the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ, if not during his lifetime. John 
i : 1, 2, is the only reference to baptism by Jesus 
or his disciples during his life. This connection 
gives it an importance which it would not other- 
wise possess, and leads me to group here such 
scanty information as the Bible and other au- 
thentic sources give concerning it. 

History. The origin of baptism as a religious 
rite is unknown. It is certainly very ancient; 
Grotius even imagines that it is as old as the 
Deluge, and was established in commemoration 
of that event. Ceremonial ablutions of some sort 
were certainly common in the time of Christ, not 
only in Palestine, but also in adjoining lands. 
The Egyptian priests bathed twice a day and 
twice in the night, and inaugurated their feasts 
with a grand ceremony of purification. — ( Wilkin- 
son, 1 : 324.) The Greeks and Romans prepared 
for sacrifice and other religious rites by lustra- 
tion ; and not only the priests performed this 
ceremony — it was also performed by private in- 
dividuals when they had polluted themselves by 
any real or supposed criminal action, from the 
stain of which they desired purification. A sim- 
ilar rite was performed at times by the shepherd 
on his sheep, and even on the army or the fleet 
before entering on a campaign. It was in such 
cases performed by sprinkling the water on the 
person or persons, usually from a branch of olive 
or laurel. (See Smith's Dictionary of Antiq., 
Art. Lustralio, and authors there cited.) The 
O. T. abounds with examples of lustrations of 



various descriptions, of the person, the clothing, 
and objects offered for sacrifice. It was per- 
formed on both priests and people (Exod. 19: 10 ; 

29 : 4; 30 : 20; 40 : 12-15; Lev. ch. 8; 16 : 26, 28; 17 : 15; 22 : 4, 6; 

Deut. 23 : io, li ; 2 chron. 4 : 2, e). The spiritual signifi- 
cance of these lustrations is rendered evident by 
other passages which refer to washings as a sym- 
bol of moral purification, in a way to leave no 
doubt that it was recognized by pious and intel- 
ligent Jews that a mere washing of the person in 
water was not enough, but that the soul must be 
cleansed through repentance by the power of 

Gt)d (Ps. 26:6; 51 : 2, 7; 73: 13; Isaiah 1 : 16; 4:4; Jer. 4 : 14; 

zech. 13 : i). The act of Pilate in washing his hands 
before the people, and declaring himself innocent 
of the blood of Jesus (Matt. 27 : 34), would have pos- 
sessed no significance if both Jew and Roman had 
not recognized the moral meaning of washing as 
a sign of purification from sin. The N. T. also 
contains frequent reference to ceremonial wash- 
ings which had been instituted by the Pharisees, 
and through their traditions engrafted on the 

laWS Of Moses (Mark 7 : 4, 8, 14; Luke 11 : 38; Heb. 9 : 10). 

Baptism of Proselytes. — Of these washings none 
was more significant or more universally recog- 
nized, if we may judge from the rabbinical 
writings, than the baptism of Jewish proselytes. 
Heathen converts on entering the Jewish church 
ratified their change of faith by two ceremonies, 
baptism and sacrifice ; in the case of males cir- 
cumcision was added. The baptism was admin- 
istered in the daytime by the immersion of the 
whole person ; and while standing in the water 
the proselyte was instructed in certain portions 
of the law. The whole families of proselytes, 
including infants, were baptized. (See Lightfoot 
on Matt. 3 : 6.) By this act of baptism the 



Ch. III.] 



MATTHEW. 



73 



proselyte signified that he was washed of his 
past sins and errors and entered his new life, 
cleansed and purified, a new man. 

John's Baptism. — When, therefore, John com- 
menced his public ministry by preaching the ne- 
cessity of repentance, and added to it baptism as 
a symbol, its meaning would be readily under- 
stood. It was interpreted by his declaration 
that it was not enough to be a child of Abraham, 
but that Israelite and Gentile alike needed to 
repent of sin, a doctrine subsequently more em- 
phatically repeated by Paul (Matt. 3 : 9, 10 ; Rom. 2 : 12, 
17-24 j 3 : 9, etc.). By baptizing the people, John em- 
phasized this declaration and said to them, by a 
formal and solemn ceremonial, Tou need, no less 
than the despised Gentile, to wash away the 
past, to be cleansed, morally and personally, as 
a preparation for the Kingdom of God. Every 
one who submitted to baptism at his hands pub- 
licly recognized the truth that personal repent- 
ance of sin was as necessary to the Jew as to the 
Gentile. And it is a noteworthy fact that the 
delegation from the Sanhedrim who inquired by 
what authority he baptized (John 1 : 25), did not in- 
quire the meaning of the rite, showing evidently 
that they understood its significance. 

Baptism of Jesus. — Why Jesus should have 
been baptized is a question which has given rise 
to much discussion. The same perplexity which 
John felt then, the Christian Church has felt 
since ; for Jesus had no sins that needed to be 
washed away, and could not, therefore, become 
strictly a disciple of the doctrine of repentance, 
as by submitting to baptism he appeared to do. 
Various answers have been given, some of them 
certainly fanciful, others mystical, needing ex- 
planation more than the fact itself. Thus it has 
been said that the object of the baptism was to 
point out Jesus Christ as the sacrificial Lamb of 
the World, and to prefigure his death for sin, as 
baptism symbolizes death to sin ; that he was 
baptized as a priest, and because the priests re- 
ceived a like lustration before entering on their 
priestly duties, that by his baptism he pledged 
himself to the whole righteousness of the law, 
promising to fulfill all ; that he brought the 
baptism of John to its consummation and inau- 
gurated Christian baptism in its place, as by par- 
taking of the Last Passover he converted it into 
a Christian ordinance ; that he sanctified by this 
act the water to the mystical washing away of 
sin ; and that in him the whole Christian Church 
were baptized into a new life, he acting as the 
type and representative of humanity. But here, 
as everywhere throughout Scripture, the rational 
and simple meaning is the best. The significance 
of John's baptism, as interpreted above, explains 
the significance of the baptism of Jesus. It was 
not merely like his submitting to circumcision 
and the purification (Luke 2 : 21, 22), because they 
were rites required by the law, while baptism 



was not. It was a public renunciation of sin and 
a public profession of religion. It is true that 
Christ himself knew no sin and needed no re- 
pentance (John 8 : 46 ; 14 : 30), but he was numbered 
with the transgressors, was made sin for us, and 
bore our infirmities and carried our transgres- 
sions (isaiab. 53 : 12; 2 Cor. 5 : 2l). In taking Upon him 

h Jinan nature he took all its humiliation and all 
its duties, though none of its real degradation, 
and fittingly commenced his public life by a 
public renunciation of sin for himself and his fol- 
lowers. Observe, too, that the religion which by 
this act he professed, was that of the spirit as 
opposed to the religion of form and ceremonies. 
His baptism was a public and solemn enunciation 
of his position as a teacher of personal righteous- 
ness, and his endorsement of the fundamental 
doctrine of which John the Baptist was a her- 
ald, but which received its fullest exposition in 
the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, that 
they only are the true children of God who, 
whatever their birth or place in humanity, repent 
of their personal sins and bring fprth fruits meet 
for repentance. The true follower of Christ- 
must follow him in this public renunciation of 
sin and profession of religion. It is not true, as 
sometimes said, that Christ professed religion 
only by his life. 

Form of Baptism. — There is no clear and cer- 
tain information in the Scripture as to the mode 
in which John the Baptist administered baptism. 
The question is important only in its bearing 
upon another, viz., what is the proper mode of 
Christian baptism. Without considering the 
latter question here, it is enough to say that the 
indications are that the baptism of John was 
performed by a partial or total immersion. 
These indications are the following : 1. The 
Greek word (fiarttitu), generally translated 
"baptize" in our version, and the corres- 
ponding Hebrew word sometimes rendered 
"baptize" and sometimes rendered "dip," im- 
ply primarily a partial or complete immersion. 
At the same time it appears clear that in biblical 
usage neither word necessarily involves the idea 
of complete submersion. Thus, in Mark 7 : 4, we 
have a reference to the washing (Gr. (lamia/ios) 
of tables (perhaps couches or beds, see note 
there), which certainly does not indicate a sub- 
mersion of the table 01 bed in water as a means 
of purification. The only passages in the O. T. 
in which the original Hebrew word is used, are 
the following : Lev. 4:6; 14 : 6-51 ; Num. 19 : 
18 ; Ruth 3 : 14 ; Ex. 13 : 33 ; Deut. 33 : 34 ; Ezek. 
33 : 15 ; Job 9 : 31 ; Lev. 9:9; 1 Sam. 14 : 37 
(twice) ; 3 Kings 5 : 14 ; 8 : 15 ; Gen. 37 : 31 ; 
Josh. 3 : 15. In the N. T. the only passages 
where the word occurs in which it is not trans- 
lated baptize or baptism, which is in fact no 
translation but only an English form of the orig- 
inal Greek word, are Mark 7 : 4, 8, and Hebrews 



74 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. IV. 



9 : 10. The word translated dip, in Luke 1C : 24 ; 
John 13 : 26 ; and Rev. 19 : 13, is etymologically 
the same, however, though slightly different in 
form. The English reader who is desirous to 
investigate more fully the biblical use of the 
word can do so by an examination of these pas- 
sages. The result of a fair and impartial exam- 
ination will be that which the best scholarship 
has reached, viz., that the word does generally 
involve the idea of dipping into water, though 
not necessarily a complete immersion, still less a 
complete submersion in it. 2. Although cere- 
monial washings were performed both by Greek 
and Romans, and by Jews by means of sprink- 
ling (see above, and Numb. 7 : 7 ; 19 : 19 ; Ezek. 26 : 25), yet the 

baptism of proselytes, from which probably the 
baptism of John was borrowed, was by immersion. 
It was regarded as indispensable that this should 
be complete. "If," said the rabbinical writers, 
"any wash himself all over except the very top 
of his little finger, he is still in his uncleanness. " 
3. The language of the passage descriptive of his 
baptism, "I baptize you in water" (see note on verse 
u, above), tends to confirm this impression, as does 
the fact that John baptized in the Jordan. The 
catacombs contain rude pictures of the baptism 
of Jesus by John. They never represent it as 
done by sprinkling, or by immersion, but by 
Douring; Jesus stands in the water and John 
pours water upon his head from a vessel, in a 
manner analogous to that pursued in the anoint- 
ing of a priest according to the O. T. ritual (Exoa. 
29 : 7). There are some other considerations 
which throw light on the method pursued in the 
N. T. times in later Christian baptism, but they 
will be considered hereafter. It should be added 
that nothing is known as to the formula, if any, 
used by John ; he certainly did not baptize in 
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 

GhOSt (Matt. 28 : 19 J Acts 19 : 1-5 ; compare also Rom. 6 : 3, 4). 

Evidently baptism into "Christ's death" could 
not precede his death. See an able essay on the 
essential difference between Christ's baptism 
and the baptism of John, by Robert Hall. 



Ch. 4 : 1-11. TEMPTATION OF JESUS CHRIST.— 
See Thoughts on the Temptation, below. 

Preliminary Note. This incident is recorded 
also fully in Luke 4 : 1-13, and briefly in Mark 
1 : 12, 13 ; it is not mentioned in John. It. is 
confessedly one of the most difficult passages in 
the Gospels to understand. The various inter- 
pretations may be conveniently classed under six 
different heads. 

1. That no such event really occurred, but 
that Christ, in the form of a parable, of which 
he made himself a central figure, taught his dis- 
ciples how it is that temptations assail us all, 
and how we are to resist them. This interpreta- 
tion is rejected by nearly all Christian commen- 



tators ; for while this lesson is taught by Christ's 
example, the language is that of historical nar- 
ration, not of a parable. 

2. That it is an historical narrative, but of a 
natural event ; that the devil was a human 
tempter, or animated a human tempter, and of- 
fered the temptation through him ; for example, 
that the tempter was one of the delegation 
which came up from Jerusalem to attend the 
preaching of John the Baptist (John i : 19), and 
that the temptation really consisted of proposi- 
tions which they made to him to join their party. 
"Probably," says Lange, "he was transported 
in a figurative sense to the summit of the temple 
pinnacle by the ostentatious offers of the depu- 
ties of the Sanhedrim." "The mountain on 
which they placed him was Mount Zion, accord- 
ing to its spiritual significance, in the last age of 
the world. The tempter displayed to him the 
prospect of the theocratic government of the 
world. Probably into this disclosure plots 
against the Romans were introduced. And 
Christ was urged to approve of their hierarchi- 
cal plan for the conquest of the world." This 
view, though defended by Lange and Bengel, is 
unmistakably an afterthought. There is noth- 
ing in the narrative itself to suggest or to war- 
rant it. It has, so far as I know, no other 
respectable endorsers. 

3. That it is a vision or a dream, having its 
parallel in Ezekiel's vision of the valley of bones 
(Ezek. 37 : 1-14), and of Paul's experience of being 
caught up into the third heaven (2 Cor. is : 1-3). 
But there is nothing whatever in the narrative 
to imply a vision or a dream, and the true spirit- 
ual significance of the hour, as one of real temp- 
tation, is taken away by such an interpretation. 

4. That it is a personal and internal experi- 
ence, in which certain circumstances suggest 
temptations which Jesus overcomes only after a 
bitter struggle. "A stone by its shape or color 
suggests to an imagination affected by bodily 
cravings the appearance of a loaf of bread, and 
gives rise to the first temptation. His foot 
strikes against a stone and he stumbles ; perhaps 
is in danger of a serious fall. Instantly there 
occurs to him another passage of Scripture, ' He 
will give his angels charge over thee, lest at any 
time thou dash thy foot against a stone. ' Since 
he has angels attending him, why may he not go 
to the city, ascend one of the pinnacles of the 
Temple, cast himself off and display to the as- 
tonished crowd his miraculous power? Once 
more he finds himself upon an eminence which 
commands an extensive view ; he feels the stir- 
ring of personal ambition, and bethinks him 
how, if he would only fall down and worship the 
evil thought, he might possess himself of univer- 
sal dominion. The tempter and the temptation 
were within his own soul." (Condensed from 
Furness's Notes on Schenckel's Character of 



Oh. IV.] 



MATTHEW. 



75 



CHAPTER IV. 

THEN was Jesus led up of j the Spirit into the wil- 
derness, to be tempted 1 ' of the devil, 
a And when he had fasted forty days and forty 
nights, he was afterward an hungred. 



3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If 
thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be 
made bread. 

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man' 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 



j 1 Kings 18 : 12 ; Eze. 11 : 1, 24 ; Acts 8 : S9 1 Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1; Heb. 2 : 18 1 Dent. 8 : 



Jesus.) This view will at once be rejected by all 
those who hold that Jesus Christ was the sinless 
Son of God, in whose pure heart no solicitations 
of evil could arise of themselves to lure him to 
sin. If we accept the narrative at all, we must 
accept, as the very essence of it, that the sugges- 
tion of recreancy did not spring spontaneous in 
his heart from evil desires which lurked unrec- 
ognized there, but that they were suggested to 
him by the tempter only to be instantly and in- 
dignantly rejected. 

5. That it is a literal narrative ; that Satan really 
appeared in tangible form to Jesus, and proposed 
to him to convert the stones into bread, carried him 
bodily to the pinnacle of the temple, and showed 
him from some high eminence a vie w which at least 
suggested all the kingdoms of the world. This is a 
common view among evangelical interpreters ; to 
it there are serious objections, objections which 
seem to me to be conclusive, a. We must either im- 
pute to the devil a degree of supernatural power, 
which the Bible nowhere else attributes to him, 
or must suppose that Jesus exercised it in his 
flight to the pinnacle of the temple, and this for 
the very purpose of entering into temptation. 

b. There is no mountain from which all the king- 
doms of the known world could be seen ; in 
part, then, the narrative cannot be a literal one. 

c. The Bible nowhere else represents the devil 
appearing undisguised to man ; on the contrary, 
his power lies in his disguises and concealments 
(Gea. ch. 3; 2 Cor. ii:3). d. In this particular case 
the temptation, especially the last, would be 
robbed of all its power if the devil had been rec- 
ognized before his proposition. It seems impos- 
sible that the suggestion of literal worship to a 
bodily fiend could offer any temptation — we will 
not say to Jesus — to any one of ordinary purity 
of heart and strength of conscience. 

6. That it describes in dramatic language a 
real but internal experience, that Satan was 
really present, whispering the suggestions of 
evil to the soul of Jesus, as he still does to us 
(see note on verse below), but unrecognized until 
the last, the subtlest and worst of the three 
temptations ; that the narrative describes a suc- 
cession of pictures which passed before Christ's 
imagination, by which Satan endeavored to se- 
duce him ; that it was in imagination that Jesus 
was carried to the pinnacle of the temple, and in 
imagination wa3 shown the kingdoms of the 
world, and that he was invited to gain control of 
them, not by a literal worshiping of the bodily 



fiend, but by yielding to the arts of the evil one, 
and serving him as the previous conquerors of 
the world, Cyrus and Alexander, for example, 
had done. This opinion is also beset with diffi- 
culties. Our temptations possess their strength 
and their bitterness in large measure because we 
possess a fallen nature which Christ did not. To 
us Satan is often undisclosed, and our sluggish 
consciences do not recognize quickly the evil 
when covertly disguised as good. But we can- 
not attribute to Christ a blunted and insensitive 
moral nature. These and kindred difficulties, 
however, are inherent in any conception of Christ's 
temptation here, and in any attempt to understand 
his experiences of conflict elsewhere recorded. We 
can only reverently accept the declaration that 
he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet 
without sin, and interpret his experiences by our 
own, fully recogni;.ing the truth that our souls 
cannot gauge and measure his, and that the ut- 
most study and thought will yet leave in this 
passage, as in all of Christ's mysterious life, an 
utterly inexplicable element, a mystery that is 
insoluble. Fully recognizing this, I adopt the 
last of the interpretations given above as on the 
whole the one most consonant with other Scrip- 
ture, the narrative itself, and with reason. The 
grounds on which I accept this interpretation, 
have been, in part indirectly stated in disposing 
of the other views ; they will appear more fully 
in interpreting the passage itself. It is to be 
remembered that, though Satan is more distinctly 
embodied in this narrative than in any other, yet 
he is repeatedly referred to in Scripture as bring- 
ing trouble or temptation in cases in which no 
other than a purely spiritual and unrecognized 

presence is indicated (l Chron. 21 : 1 ; Job 2 : 7 ; Matt. 13 : 
19,39; Luke 13: 16; John 13 : 2). 

1. Then. Immediately after the baptism and 
the descent of the Spirit. "Thou didst take up 
arms, not to be idle, but to fight." — (Chrysostom.) 
After the baptism of grace comes the battle. It 
is the wilderness, not Jordan and the dove, 
which tries us and shows our true character. 
Compare 2 Cor. 12 : 7-10. Was Jesus led. 
Rather brought or carried. The word is used to 
signify something more than a mere leading, and 
is the same translated brought in Luke 2 : 22 ; 
Acts 9 : 39 ; 12 : 4. It is used also in describing 
the bringing of sacrifice to the altar. In Acts 7 : 
41, it is translated offered. Under an irresistible 
impulse Christ was carried away into the wilder- 
ness (compare Acts 1 : 39). By the Spirit, »'. «., 



76 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. IV. 



the Holy Spirit. God tempteth no man, but he 
sometimes brings us into temptation (compare Matt. 

6:13; 26:41; Job 1 : 12 ; 2:6; 2 Cor. 12 : 7). IlltO the 

wilderness (see note on Matt. 3: i). Between Jeri- 
cho and the Mount of Olives is a wild region, 
where is a mountain called Quarantana, which 
Robinson describes as "an almost perpendicular 
wall of rock, twelve or fifteen hundred feet 
above the plain." This is fixed on by tradition 
as the site of the temptation, and particularly as 
the mountain to which Christ was carried in the 
last one. But the tradition is entirely untrust- 
worthy. The site is wholly a matter of conjec- 
ture. To be tempted. This was the purpose 
for which he was led into the wilderness. " As he 
had been subject to his earthly parents at Naza- 
reth, so now he is subject, in the outset of his 
official course, to his Heavenly Parent, and is by 
his will thus carried up to be tempted." — 
(Alford.) By the devil. Not by his own 
heart, nor by a human tempter. The term, "the 
devil," is always used in the Bible to signify 
an evil spirit, never to personify the evil in man or 
in the world. On the contrary, the work of evil 
spirits is contrasted with the evil influence of 
the world (Eph. 6 : 12). Judas Iscariot is called a 
devil but not the devil (John o : 70) ; and in Rev. 2 : 
10, the devil working in the hearts of malignant 
persecutors is intended ; the word is not put for 
the persecutors themselves. The word devil 
(Gr. diupo/.og) signifies accuser (Rev. 12 : 9, 10). He 
is also called Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon 
(Greek), i. e\, destroyer (Rev. 9 : 11) ; Belial, i. e., a 
good-for-nothing (2 Cor. 6 : 15) ; Satan, i. e., an ad- 
versary (job 2 : 1). See also for descriptive titles : 
John 8 : 44 ; 12 ': 31 ; 2 Cor. 4:4; Ephes. 6 : 12 ; 
1 Pet. 5 : 8 ; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 12 : 7 ; 20 : 10. 
Less is disclosed concerning him in Scripture 
than many suppose ; much of the popular im- 
pression concerning him is derived from mediae- 
val theology, and yet more from Milton's Para- 
dise Lost. It certainly is not true that the idea 
of a personal devil was derived by the Jews from 
Persian philosophy during their captivity, for he 
appears by implication, though not expressly 
named, in the history of the fall (Qen. ch. 3), and 
more distinctly, probably, in Job, one of the 
oldest books of the Bible, if not the very oldest, 

than anywhere else (Job 1 : 6 ; 2 : 3-7 ; compare also 1 Cbron. 

21 : 1). He is represented in the N. T. as an adver- 
sary of human souls, endeavoring by various 
snares to take us captive, suggesting evil 
thoughts to our minds, or erasing good impres- 
sions which have been produced there, or putting 
hindrances in the way of Christian work, or in- 
spiring persecutors of the faithful, and as cer- 
tain at last to be bound in chains, and finally cast 

into torment (Matt. 13 : 19 ; Luke 22 : 31 ; John 13 : 2 ; 2 Cor. 2 : 
11 ; 11 : 3, 14 ; Ephes. 6:11; 1 Thess. 2 : 18 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 26 ; 1 Pet. 
6 : «, 9 ; Rev. 2 : 10 ; 12 : 9 ; 20 : 1-3 and 7-lo). 



2. Fasted. This does not necessarily imply 
that he ate nothing (Dan. 10 : 2, 3). Some commen- 
tators think that his fasting may have consisted 
simply of abstaining from all ordinary food and 
subsisting only on the scanty supplies of the 

desert (compare with Matt. 3:4; 11 : 18). But the 

language of Luke 4 : 2, taken with Exod. 34 : 28, 
and 1 Kings 19 : 8, implies that he literally 
ate nothing, being miraculously sustained dur- 
ing the period of fasting. Observe that the 
duration of Christ's fast was the same as that of 
Moses and that of Elijah, who were transfigured 
with him (Matt, n : 3). According to Luke 4 : 2, 
and apparently Mark 1 : 13, he was subjected to 
temptations during this whole period of forty 
days ; those here recorded would seem to be 
the culmination of these temptations. 

3, 4. The first temptation. It appeals to 
a natural and sinless appetite — hunger. It sug- 
gests an act seemingly innocent. Why should 
not Christ make bread of the stones, and so sup- 
ply his wants ? Because he had taken upon him- 
self the nature of man and the condition and 
sufferings of mankind (pmi. 2 : 6-8). To have 
availed himself of his divine power to escape the 
bodily discomforts of humanity, would have been 
to fail in his mission of becoming our pattern and 
our sympathizing high priest at the very outset. 
Accordingly, there is no case in the N. T. in 
which Christ exercises miraculous power for his 
own benefit. The escapes recorded in Luke 
4 : 30, John 8 : 59, and 10 : 39, are sometimes re- 
garded as miraculous, but there is no Scripture 
authority for so regarding them ; and the taking 
of the tax-money from the fish's mouth (Matt. 
17 : 27) was for a moral purpose. (See note there.) 
I doubt whether there is any case in Scripture 
in which a genuine miracle is recorded as being 
wrought for the benefit of him at whose bidding 
it is performed. 

3. If thou be. Rather, Since thou art. The 
"if," says Alford, "implies no doubt." 

4. It is written, in Deut. 8 : 3. The refer- 
ence there is to the feeding of Israel with manna 
in the wilderness, and may be literally rendered, 
" by every outgoing of the mouth of the Lord ; " 
i. «., by the whole course of God's providential 
care over those who obey his word. The mean- 
ing is the same as that involved in Matt. 6 : 2i-34, 
viz. : that he who seeks first the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness may leave all questions of 
food and raiment to God. If man obeys the 
divine will, he may trust himself to the divine 
providence. The divine will respecting Christ 
was that he should be found in condition as a 
man. He obeys that will, and leaves to God 
to provide for his physical wants (compare Deut. 
29:5,6). "They that taunted him on the cross, 
'He saved others, himself he cannot save,' bore 
an unconscious testimony to the unselfishness of 



Ch. IV.] 



MATTHEW. 



77 



5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, m 
and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 

6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, 
cast thyself down, for it is written, He" shall give his 
angels charge concerning thee : and in their hands 
they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy 
foot against a stone. 



7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou" 
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 

8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding 
high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of 
the world, and the glory of them ; 

9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give 
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 



m ch. 27 : 53; Neh. 11 : 1 n Ps. 91 : 11, 12 o Deut. 6 : 16. 



his spirit and the thoroughness with which he 
took upon himself the life of common humanity. 
He that fed five thousand in the wilderness, from 
two small loaves and five little fishes, would not 
supply himself, except by ordinary means, with 
one." 

5-7. The second temptation. The devil 
appeals to love of fame, and proposes to Christ 
to found his kingdom upon fame. A single mir- 
acle wrought before all the people shall secure 
their reverence and allegiance. A single trial of 
the divine power which belongs to the Son of 
God will put an end to all doubts, in Christ's 
own mind and in tlae mind of the people. "If he 
would have a prosperous following and an easy 
victory over the world, let him become the mas- 
ter of marvels. Let him show men that a Divin- 
ity was among them, not by the inspiration of a 
higher life in their souls, but by such a use of 
divine power as should captivate the fancy of all 
who saw the wonders of skill, of beauty, of dar- 
ing, which he should show." — (Beecher's Life of 
Chrinf.) This, I think, is the true interpretation 
of the second temptation, which is one of ambi- 
tion, or rather vain glory, not one of mere pre- 
sumption, as supposed by Alford. The same 
demand for a wonder-working evidence of his 
divine authority is frequently repeated through- 
out Christ's life (Matt. 12 : 38, 39), and always refused. 
It reappears in demands of modern skeptics for 
modem miracles, and in the language of Renan, 
who treats Christ as a thaumaturgist, i. <?., a 
mere wonder-worker. 

5. The holy city. Jerusalem. Pinnacle 
of the temple. The temple was built on Mount 
Moriah, on a foundation built up of solid ma- 
sonry, so as to present a nearly perpendicular 
wall of over 200 feet from the floor of the temple 
to the valley below, "almost equal in height to 
the tallest of our church spires." On this wall, 
overhanging the valley of the Kedron, was Her- 
od's royal portico. From the roof of that por- 
tico to the valley below was not less than 300 
feet. "The valley was very deep, insomuch that 
if any one looked down from the top of the bat- 
tlements, he would be giddy, while his sight 
could not reach to such an immense depth." — 
(Josephus.) According to Alford, it was the roof 
of this porch which is intended by the descrip- 
tion here. According to others, it was the apex 
of the temple proper from which he was called 
upon to cast himself down into the court below 



among the people who were always assembled 
there. If we suppose the whole event to have 
taken place in thought only, the location could 
not have been very definitely described, because 
it would not necessarily have been very definitely 
conceived. The essence of the temptation ap- 
pears to me to be its publicity, and, therefore, 
whatever point of the temple was brought to 
Christ's mind, it must have been one from which 
the miracle proposed could have been generally 
observed. 

6. It is written, in Psalm 91 : 11 ; not, how- 
ever, as a prophecy of the Messiah, but as appli- 
cable to all the children of God. Christ has re- 
plied to the devil's first suggestion as a man, and 
the devil cites a promise of God applicable to all 
men in his second temptation. Observe that the 
devil misapplies Scripture, using it to lead into 
error. "If," says Jerome, "the text which he 
quotes refers to Christ, he ought to have added 
what there follows against himself — the dragon 
shalt thou tread under thy feet " (verse 13). 

7. It is written, in Deut. 6 : 16; thou shalt 
not tempt, i. e., try him, put him on trial, pre- 
sume on his aid, and therefore attempt exploits 
which he does not command, or neglect precau- 
tions which reason dictates. 

8=10. The third temptation. An appeal 
to ambition. The Pharisees expected a literal 
establishment of a universal Jewish domain. As 
Alexander had conquered all the world, so they 
expected Judaism would conquer all the world, 
and Jerusalem would be its capital. This was 
unmistakably the expectation }f Christ's own 
disciples, even to the close of his life (Matt. 20 : 20, 
21 ; Luke 19 : li ; 24 : 21). The third temptation of the 
devil was an appeal to Christ to realize this 
dream of the nation. " There was a tremendous 
temptation to exhibit before men his real place 
and authority ; to appear as great as he really 
was ; to use his energies that men should admit 
him to be greater than generals, higher than 
kings, more glorious than temple or palace." 
—(Beecher's Life of Christ. ) "It was a proposition 
to use physical force for the accomplishment of 
moral results— to turn from the path of suffer- 
ing and labor and martyrdom for the truth."— 
(Deems' "Jesus.") '"All this power and glory 
will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and wor- 
ship me.' In other words, the glory and power 
shall be the Messiah's, if he consents to act in the 
spirit of the prince of this world."— (Pressense's 



78 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. IV 



10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan : 
for it is written, ThouP shalt worship the Lord thy 
God, and him only shalt thou serve. 



ii Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels - 
came and ministered unto him. 



p Deut. 6 : 13 j 1 Sam. 7:3 (J Heb. 1 : 6, 14. 



Life of Christ.) "The seductive promise was 
whispered in the ear of Jesus, 'This victory 
shall be thine. Only yield something of your 
religious zeal ; only consent to join hands with 
the priestly aristocracy of Judea ; only consent 
to look in silence on their sins ; only compromise 
a little with conscience ; only employ the arts of 
policy and the methods of state diplomacy, by 
which, always and everywhere, men mount to 
power. Be not righteous overmuch, for why 
shouldst thou destroy thyself . " — (AbboWs Jesus 
of Nazareth. ) This temptation was repeated in 
different forms several times in Christ's life, 
especially in the effort of the people to make 
him king (joim 6 : 15), and in the endeavors of the 
disciples to dissuade him from his voluntary sac- 
rifice of himself (Matt. 16 : 22, 23). Compare his 
language to Peter in the last-quoted passage 
with verse 10 here. 

8. Of course there is no such mountain, and 
on a round globe can be none. The language 
"all the glory of them" indicates a picture 
seen in imagination rather than a literal view 
from any height. We must at all events dismiss 
at once all such puerile explanations as that the 
devil showed him the entire Holy Land, i. e., the 
Jewish domain, or the Roman Empire, which 
could not all be seen from any elevation, or 
pointed out the direction of all kingdoms. 
Either the sight was one afforded in imagination 
only, or there was a miraculous extension of 
Christ's vision for the purpose. But the whole 
theory of a series of miracles wrought for the ex- 
press purpose of affording a temptation, is inconsis- 
tent with the general tenor of Scripture, and 
directly contradictory of James 1 : 13 ; and the 



difficulty of understanding how Christ's imagi- 
nation could be made a means of temptation is 
only part of the greater and insoluble difficulty 
of understanding how he could be truly subject 
to any temptation. Of the location of this 
mountain, if we suppose the scene to be real, not 
in imagination only, nothing is known. (See 
note on ver. 1.) 

9. All these things will I give thee. 
There would seem to be little or no temptation 
in this promise if we suppose that the proposi- 
tion was made by a fiend in bodily form, and in- 
volved a demand of divine homage paid to him. 
Christ, who knew that the devil was a liar from 
the beginning (John 8: 44,) would not be deceived 
by so self-evident a lie as this would be if it were 
made in this form. Nor is the supposition that 
he did not till the last recognize the devil in these 
suggestions of evil, inconsistent with the degree 
of supernatural knowledge attributed to him by 

the N. T. (See notes on Matt. 8 : 10 ; Mark 13 : 32 j and Heb. 
5:8.) 

10. Satan. Christ now first calls him by 
name, as though he now for the first time recog- 
nized the source whence these suggestions came 
to his mind. It is written. A quotation, but 
a free one, and somewhat modified, of Deut. 6 : 13. 

11. Then the devil leaveth him. For a 
season, but only to return with various tempta- 
tions in the subsequent life of Christ (Luke 4: 13). 
From this time the devils recognize the Lord, 
acknowledge his power, and are cast out by his 
word (Mark i : 24, 34 j 3 : ii ; 5 : 7). A ngels came and 
ministered unto him. The primary meaning 
is with food or other supplies, as in the case of 
Elijah, 1 Kings 19 : 6, 7. 



THOUGHTS ON THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS CHRIST. 



I. The nature of temptation is here indicated. 
It does not necessarily involve sin or even moral 
imperfection. We are tempted whenever desires, 
such as may be right in themselves, conflict with 
principles which are morally superior and should 
be their masters, as when appetite conflicts with 
trust in God ; love of approbation with humble 
obedience to and waiting on God ; love of influ- 
ence aud power, with a supreme love for and alle- 
giance to God. We sin only when the higher 
principle yields to the lower propensity. In us 
temptation is strengthened by the fact that we 
have yielded to it ; yet before we have yielded 
we learn obedience by experience of conflict. 

II. Christ was "in all points tempted like as 
we are, yet without sin ; " i. e., he possessed the 
same propensities and was subject to the same 



conflicts, but never yielded (Hebrews 4 : is). That 
he really felt the power of temptation and con- 
quered only after a struggle analogous to our 
own heart struggles, is abundantly indicated not 
only in this passage and in the account of the 
struggle in Gethsemane and on the cross (Matt. 2c : 

36-56 ; 27 : 46, and parallel passages), but also in Such inci- 
dents as those recorded in Luke 12 : 50 ; John 
12 : 27 ; and 16 : 32, and in such direct declara- 
tions as those of Hebrews 2 : 10, and 5 : 8. 

III. In this threefold temptation there is 
noticeable a regular progression. The first ap- 
pealed to the body ; the second to love of ad- 
miration ; the third to love of power. The first 
to a mere bodily appetite ; the second to a more 
honorable desire of fame, founded on human 
sympathy ; the third to a noble ambition which 



Ch. IV.] 



MATTHEW. 



79 



12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast 
into prison, he departed into Galilee : 

13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in 
Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the bor- 
ders of Zabulon and Nephthalim : 



14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 
Esaias the prophet.' saying, 

15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephtha- 
lim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of 
the Gentiles 



r Isa. 9 : 1, 2. 



Satan tried to pervert. The first called for an 
act seemingly miraculous ; the second for one 
ostentatious and presumptuous, the third for 
one blasphemously wicked. The first disguised 
itself under an appeal to reason ; the second 
sustained itself by an appeal to Scripture ; and 
in the third all disguise was cast off, and Satan 
revealed himself. The first was the most decep- 
tive ; the second the most plausible ; the third 
the most audacious. In the first, Satan tried to 
mislead by hiding the sin ; in the second, by 
sanctioning the sin because of a greater good to 
be accomplished by it ; in the third, to compen- 
sate for the sin by a promised reward. 

IV. Christ receives the temptation as a man 
and resists it as a man. As he is tempted in all 
points like as we are, so his resistance is an exam- 
ple to us how to resist. He conquers the temp- 
tation through bodily hunger by trust in God, 
the temptation to presumption and ostentation 
by humble obedience to and patient waiting on 
God, the temptation to worldly ambition by su- 
preme love and reverence for God ; thus in every 
onset it is faith in God which is the shield that 
quenches the darts of the adversary (Ephes. c : 10). 

V. We share Christ's first experience when 
poverty tempts us to violate God's law that we 
may provide for our daily wants ; we share the 
second experience when we are tempted to neg- 
lect duties which God's providence lays upon us 
or to run into needless dangers or difficulties, or 
to assume uncalled-for hazards, and trust the re- 
sult to God, or to make an ostentatious display 
of our faith in God ; we share the third experi- 
ence when we are tempted, for the sake of 
power, wealth, or influence, to conform to the 
world and to employ Satan's instruments in even 
seeming to do God's service. We yield to the 
first temptation when we distrust God's provi- 
dential care ; we yield to the second when we 
presume unwarrantably on his grace, or make a 
show of our reliance on his word ; we yield to 
the third when we are conformed to this world 
and adopt its policies and methods and imbibe its 
spirit for the sake of its rewards. The first sin 
is forbidden by Matt. 6 : 25, the second by 6 : 1-7, 
the third by 6 : 34. We resist the first tempta- 
tion when we seek first the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness, and trust food, raiment, and 
shelter to Him ; we resist the second when, in 
humble trust in Him, we do all that God has 
given us power to do, looking to Him only to 
protect us from ills against which we cannot, by 



reasonable precaution, guard ourselves, and pa- 
tiently waiting for Him to bring about his own 
results in his own time and way ; we resist the 
third when we make a supreme love to God the 
sole inspiration of our hearts, and a supreme al- 
legiance to Him the sole rule of our lives. 

Ch. 4 : 12-25. CHRISTS FIRST MINISTRY IN GALILEE. 
—The mission of Christ : to give light to those in 
darkness, life to those in death. the message 
of Christ : Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand. The call of Christ : to Christian labor : 
i will make you fishers of men.— how to accept 
Christ's call: immediately, though it require 
us to leave property, business, friends.— Christ, 

THE MODEL FOR THE PREACHER ; CHRIST, THE MODEL 
FOR THE PHYSICIAN. 

12. Now. An interval of aboutayear, perhaps 
more, elapses between verses 11 and 12. During 
this time Christ goes from the wilderness to 
Cana of Galilee, where he performs the miracle 
at the wedding feast (John 2 : 1-11), goes up to 
Jerusalem to inaugurate his ministry there (John 
2 : 13-25 ; 3 : 1-21) ; after the Passover, joins the Bap- 
tist in Enon (John 3 : 22-36) ; leaves Judea to avoid 
threatened controversy, going through Samaria 
on his way, and arriving at the residence either 
of his mother or some friends in Cana, where he 
heals the sick child by a word (john.ch. 4), and 
where he hears of the imprisonment of John the 
Baptist, which takes place about this time. There 
is some uncertainty as to the chronology, but 
this I think to be the most probable order of 
events. See AbboWs Jesus of Nazareth, p. 139, 
note. Jesus had heard. John (the Evan- 
gelist) says the reason why he departed into Gal- 
ilee was that " th.e Lord knew how the Pharisees 
had heard that Jesus made and baptized more 
disciples than John," i. e. the Baptist (John 4: 1,3). 
The true explanation seems to be that this was 
the reason of his leaving the vicinity of the Jor- 
dan, viz. : to avoid the collision of his disciples 
with those of the Baptist, but that he did not 
commence public preaching in Galilee until after 
John's imprisonment. John was cast into 
prison. For account of this imprisonment and 
its result, John's death, see Matt. 14 : 3-12 ; Mark 
6 : 14-29. 

13. And leaving Nazareth. Hewasdriven 
out of it by a mob, in consequence of a sermon 
in which he disclosed the opening of the door of 
salvation to the Gentiles (Luke 4 : 16-31). Alford 
places this sermon later ; but his reasons for dif- 
fering from the opinions of most other scholars 



80 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. IV. 



16 The people which sat in darkness 3 saw great light : 
and to them which sat in the region and shadow of 
death, light is sprung up. 

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to 
say, Repent : for' the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw 
two brethren, Simon" called Peter, and Andrew his 



brother, casting a net into the sea : for they were fish- 
ers. 

id And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will 
make you fishers" of men. 

20 And they straightway left™ their nets, and fol- 
lowed him. 

21 And going on from thence, he saw other two 



s Isa. 42 : 6, 7 ; Luke 2 : i 



.t ch. 3: 2; 10: 1....U John 1 :42....v Luke 5: 10; 1 Cor. 9 : 20-22; 2 Cor. 12 : 16.. 



Mark 10 : 28-31. 



are not satisfactory. Indeed, his views in gen- 
eral on chronology are not more satisfactory than 
might be expected of one who in express terms 
asserts the "impracticability of constructing a 
formal harmony of the three synoptic Gospels." 
Capernaum. One of the chief cities of Galilee. 
It had a synagogue, in which Jesus often taught, 
a Roman garrison, and a customs station, and 
was the residence of Andrew, Peter, James, and 
John, and probably also of Matthew (Matt. 9 : 1-9 ; 

Mark 1:21; Luke 7: 1,8; 5:27; John 6 : 59). It Was de- 
nounced by our Lord for its rejection of him 
(Matt, n : 23), and its destruction has been so com- 
plete that its very site is a matter of uncertainty. 
The better opinion fixes it at Tel Hum, on the 
northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. The new 
name corresponds with the old, Cafar or Kefer, 
signifying village, and Tel a deserted site. The 
ruins of an ancient synagogue have been recently 
discovered at Tel Hum, not impossibly the very 
one in which Christ preached. 

14-16. That it might be fulfilled. As the 
life of the individual is ordered by God in such a 
way as to fulfill the divine but undisclosed pur- 
pose, so the life of Christ was ordered in such a 
way as to fulfill the divine will concerning him 
disclosed in the prophets, and for the purpose of 
so doing. Esaias. Isaiah 9: 1,2. The quotation 
does not follow the original literally, nor indeed 
are the quotations in the New Testament from 
the Old Testament generally verbally exact. 
Zabulon and Nephthalim. The territories 
allotted to the tribes of Zebulon end Naphthali 
are referred to. They embrace the territory 
west of the Sea of Galilee, and constituted one 
of the most important, if not the most import- 
ant, field of Christ's ministry. The way of 
the sea, beyond Jordan. Our version is un- 
fortunate, if not inaccurate. These words are 
not descriptive of Zabulon and Nephthalim, but 
descriptive of other regions, the whole being em- 
braced in the last term of the sentence, Galilee 
of the Gentiles. (See paraphrase below.) Gal- 
ilee of the Gentiles. So called because of 
the intermixture of heathen with the Jewish 
population in Galilee. Which sat in dark- 
ness. A symbol of hopeless gloom. It signifies 
more than "walked in darkness;" they do not 
even attempt to escape from it. Zabulon and 
Nephthalim occupied the most northerly portion 
of the Holy Land, and were the tribes most dis- 
tant from Jerusalem. The history and char- 



acter of Galilee (see note on Matt. : 2, 22) had brought 
it into contempt among the Judeans, and its 
people, intermixed with Gentiles, were certainly 
in ignorance of the ecclesiastical rules and the 
traditions and ceremonies which prevailed in 
Judea, and constituted in all respects a more 
common and simple population. The prophet 
declares that this region of darkness and ignor- 
ance should be the scene of the Messiah's illus- 
trious appearance. Shadow of death. A 
common metaphor in the Old Testament (job 

10 : 21 ; Ps. 23 : 4 ; Jer. 2:6; and many other similar passages). 

Death is represented like a cloud that intervenes 
between the sun and the landscape ; it thus casts 
a gloom on the face of the nation. Light is 
sprung up. " The light of itself sprung up and 
shone forth ; it was not that they first ran to the 
light." — (Chrysostom.) Compare Ephes. 2 : 4, 5; 
John 4 : 10. The whole passage then may be 
paraphrased thus : "The territories of Zabulon 
and Nephthalim, the region about the Sea of 
Gennesaret, the country beyond the Jordan, yea, 
the whole of Galilee, which you contemptuously 
designate Galilee of the Gentiles, whose inhabit- 
ants sit in the darkness of ignorance and under 
the gloom of impending death, from which there 
is no one to deliver, shall be the first to see the 
light which the Messiah brings." 

17. From that time. Though he had com- 
menced his ministry at Jerusalem by casting out 
the traders, and by his conversation with Nico- 
demus (john2: 13; ch. 3), and some public instruc- 
tion in Samaria is implied by John 4 : 40-42, his 
sermon at Nazareth appears to have inaugurated 
his entry upon his life-work as a preacher of 
righteousness. There is no cessation of that 
work from this time until his death. Even dur- 
ing his retirement, after his rejection by the 
Galileans (join 6 : 66 and Matt, is : 21), he occupied 
himself with instructing his disciples in the 
principles of Christianity, and the nature and 
work of the Christian Church. His preaching 
is, however, at first only a preaching of repent- 
ance, like that of John the Baptist. It grows 
more explicit in its disclosures of the true nature 
of the kingdom of heaven afterwards. 

18-22. The call op four disciples. The ac- 
count in Luke 5 : 1-11, is much more full. See notes 
there. Sea of Galilee. Also called Lake of Gen- 
nesaret (Luke 5 : 1), Sea of Chinnereth (Numb. 34 ; 11), 
of Cinnereth (josh. 11 : 2), of Cinneroth (1 Kings 15 : 20), 
and of Tiberias (John 6 : 1). See map, Mark, ch. 1. 




I will make you fishers of men.'' 



Ch. IV.] 



MATTHEW. 



81 



brethren," James, the son of Zebedee, and John his 
brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending 
their nets : and he called them. 

22 And they immediately left the ship and their 
father, and followed him. 

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching" in 



their synagogues, and preaching the gospel 7 of the 
kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all 
manner of disease" among the people. 

24 And his fame went throughout all Syria : and 
they brought unto him all sick people that were taken 
with divers diseases and torments, and those which 



x Mark 1 : 19, 20 y ch. 9 : 35 ; Luke 4 : 15, 44 z ell. 24 : 14 ; Mark 1 : 14. . . .a cli. 8 : 16, 17 ; Ps. 103 : 3. 




FISHEBMAN CASTING HIS NET. 

Simon called Peter. The name Peter had 
been previously given to him by our Lord at or 
about the time of his own baptism by John the 
Baptist (John 1 : 42). The reason of the new name 
is given in Matt. 16 : 18. See note there. And 
Andrew his brother. Simon Peter, Andrew, 
and John had already met Jesus at the ford of 
the Jordan, where they had partially attached 
themselves to him under the influence of John 
the Baptist's preaching (John 1 : 33-42, note). The 
fact of their acquaintance with him, coupled 
with the miraculous draft of fishes recorded in 
Luke, accounts for the readiness with which 
they responded to his call. It was not the 
call of a stranger, but of one whom they had 
already recognized as a prophet if not as the 
Messiah. 

20. And they straightway left their nets, 
etc. "Mark both their faith aud their obedience. 
For though they were in the midst of their 
work (and ye know how greedy a thing fishing 
is), when they heard his command they delayed 
not, they procrastinated not, they said not, ' let 
us return home and converse with our kinsfolk,' 
but they forsook all and followed, even as Elisha 
did to Elijah." — (Chrysoatom.) Compare Matt. 
7 : 21, 22, and ch. 19 : 27-30. 

21. Zebedee. The husband of Salome. The 
latter became a follower of Christ, and watched 
him on the cross, and ministered to him even in 
the grave (Matt. 27 : 55, 66 ; Mark 15 : 40 ; 16 : l). It is in- 



ferred from the mention of Zebedee's 
hired servants (Mark i : 20), and from the 
acquaintance of John with the high 
priest (John is : 15), that the family were 
in easy circumstances ; and that the 
father and sons were actively engaged 
in manual labor does not militate 
against this opinion. Zebedee is never 
mentioned after this incident, and 
there is no reason to believe that he 
ever became a disciple of Jesus. Com- 
pare Matt. 24 : 40, 41. One is taken 
and the other left in the call of Christ, 
as in his final coming. 

22. L.eft the ship and their 
father. Not only their property and 
their business, but their home and 
their father — for Christ's sake. Com- 
pare Matt. 10 : 37, and contrast Luke 
14 : 18-20. 

23. Jesus went about. John 
preached in one locality to the people who 
came to him. Jesus went about seeking the 
people (Mark 1 : 37, 38). Teaching in their 
synagogues. Places of religious assembly 
among the Jews. Synagogues were first con- 
stituted during the captivity in Babylon, when 
access to the Temple was denied, and received 
their full development on the return of the 
Jews from captivity. They were built gener- 
ally on elevated ground ; worshippers, as they 
entered and as they prayed, looked toward Je- 
rusalem. When finished, they were set apart, 
as the Temple had been, by a special prayer of 
dedication. The common acts of life, such as 
eating, drinking, reckoning up accounts, etc., 
were forbidden in them. Even if the building 
ceased to be used for worship, it was not to be 
applied to any base purpose. At the Christian 
era there were synagogues in every town, and in 
Jerusalem, according to the rabbinical writings, 
there were upwards of 450. The people assem- 
bled in them on Sabbath and other sacred days, 
for public prayer and the hearing of portions of 
Scripture (Luke4:i6; Acts is : is). In the interior ar- 
rangements of the synagogue may be traced an 
obvious analogy to those of the Tabernacle. At 
the upper end stood the ark or chest which con- 
tained the Book of the Law. Here were the 
" chief seats " (Matt. 23 : 6; James 2 : 2, 3). In front of 
the ark was a lamp kept constantly burning, and 
an eight-branched lamp, lighted only on great 



82 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. IV. 



were possessed with devils, and those which were 
lunatic, and those that had the palsy ; and he healed 
them. 



25 And there followed him great multitudes" of peo- 
ple from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jeru- 
salem, axid from Judeea, and from beyond Jordan. 



b Luke 6 : 17, 19. 



festivals. A little farther toward the middle of 
the building was a raised platform ; and in the 
middle of this rose a pulpit, in which the Scrip- 
ture was publicly read and the sermon or address 
was delivered. The officers of the congregation 
were composed of a college of elders (Luke 7 : 3; 
Mark 5 : 22; Acts 13 : is), presided over by one who was 
the ruler of the synagogue (Luke 8 : 41, 49 ; Acts is : 8, 17). 
These managed the affairs of the synagogue and 
possessed the power of excommunicating. There 
were also an officer who was the chief reader of 
prayers, a minister of the synagogue (Luke 4 : 20), 
who had duties of a lower kind, resembling in 
part those of the modern sexton, in part those of 
the Christian deacon or sub-deacon, and who also 
often acted during the week as schoolmaster of 
the town or village, and ten men whose func- 
tions are not well ascertained. The latter were 
to be men of leisure, able to attend the week-day 
as well as the Sabbath services, and were proba- 
bly simply a body of men permanently on duty 
making up a congregation (ten being the mini- 
mum number), so that there might be no delay 
in beginning the service at the proper time. The 
service was a ritual, probably borrowed and 
modified from the established service of the 
Temple. The first five books of the Old Testa- 
ment were read through in a course of lessons, 
one lesson being read every Sabbath ; the proph- 
ets were read as second lessons. There was also 
a sermon or exposition of the passage of Scrip- 
ture which had been read, on which, however, 
any rabbi present might speak, by invitation of 
the ruler of the synagogue (Luke 4 : 16, n ; Acts 9 : so; 
13 : 15). The liberty of preaching was not ordina- 
rily granted to any who were not versed in the 
lore of the rabbinical schools ; but it was ac- 
corded to prophets and others who were recog- 
nized as leaders of new sects or representatives 
of new opinions, in order that they might not be 
condemned unheard. Hence the permission 
granted to Christ, and subsequently to his apos- 
tles, to speak in the synagogues. The synagogue 
was a place of trial, and even, strange as it may 
seem, of the infliction of punishment (Matt. 10 : 17 ; 

23:34; Acts 22 : 1»). 

And heralding the glad tidings of the 
kingdom. The word translated preaching, sig- 
nifies literally proclaiming as a herald or public 
crier ; the word gospel is composed of two words, 
god — spell, good tidings, and answers almost ex- 
actly to the Greek, which is a compound word, 
signifying good news. An illustration of Christ's 
preaching is afforded by Luke 4 : 16-32. The 
characteristics of Jesus as a preacher are indi- 



cated by references in the various Evangelists. 
He possessed in a remarkable degree that mys- 
terious personal magnetism which is the secret 
of all true oratory. No sooner did he rise to 
speak than all eyes were fastened on him (Luke 
4 : 20). He spoke with ease and grace (it>., verse 22), 
but with peculiar power (Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32). 
For illustration of this power, see Luke 4 : 30 ; 
John 10 : 39 ; 7 : 32, 45, 46 ; 18 : 6. He showed no 
respect for rabbinical lore (Matt. 15 : 3-9 ; Mark 7 : 5-13) ; 
but was familiar with and referred constantly to 
the Old Testament Scriptures (Matt. 12 : 5-7 ; 22 : si, 

32, 42-45 ; Mark 2 : 25, 26 ; John 5 : 39). He loved nature 

and interpreted her lessons (Matt. 6 : 26-29 : 7 •. 24-27, 
etc.), and drew innumerable illustrations from the 
common events of life (Matt. 13 : 3-9, 24-30, 33, 45-50 ; 
Luke 5 : 10 ; 14 : 16-24), and f rom public and political 
events of importance (Matt. 10 : 7-15; Luke 13 : 1-5; 
19 : 12-28, and note). His discourses were generally 
brief, and abounded in apothegms, proverbs, and 

even Startling paradoxes (see, for example, Matt. 5 : 10-12, 
14, 29, 30, 44 ; 6 : 3, 21, 24, 34 ; 7 : 1, 7, 12, 20). 

And healing. For a graphic description of 
a day's work, see Mark 1 : 21-35. To this period 
of his ministry are thought to belong the casting 
out the devil in the synagogue (Mark 1 : 21-28; Luke 
4 : 31-37), the healing of Peter's mother-in-law and 
others (Matt. 8 : 14-17), the healing of the leper (Matt. 
8 : 2-4), and of the paralytic (9 : 2-8). The fuller ac- 
counts of these cures thus given show plainly 
that they were miraculous. Though Jesus some- 
times used some of the simple remedies of his 

day (Matt. 9 : 29 ; Mark 6 : 13 ; Luke 4 : 10 ; John 9 : 6, 7), and 

though some of the diseases, such as lunacy in 
its milder forms, hysteria, and some cases of par- 
alysis, can be relieved, if not cured, by a strong 
influence acting upon the system through the 
mind and brain, yet this is not true of the dis- 
eases which Christ for the most part treated, 
such as malarious fever (Matt. 8 : 14-17), chronic par- 
alysis (Luke 13 : ii-n), congenital epilepsy (Matt. 
17:14-21), long- continued ophthalmia (Matt. 9:27-30), 

Or leprosy (Matt. 8 : 1-4 ; see also Matt. 8 : 6-13 ; 9 : 18, 19, 23-26 j 
Luke 7 : 1-16 ; John 4 : 46-54 ; 17 : 12-19). No natural Causes 

can possibly explain these manifestations of 
Christ's power. His miracles, too, were charac- 
teristically unlike the acts of a necromancer. He 
never shrouded them in mystery ; he cured in his 
own name (Matt. 8 : s), in open day, and before all 

the people (Mark 3 : 2-5; 9 : 25), by a WOrd (Mark 3 : 5), 

a touch (Matt. 9 : 29), a command (John 5 : 8). For a 
full consideration of Jesus Christ as a preacher 
and healer, see Jesus of Nazareth, by Lyman 
Abbott, chapters 11, 12, and 13, from which this 
note is condensed. 



Ch. V.] 



MATTHEW. 



83 



24 , 25. Comp. Mark 1 : 28. The Sea of Galilee 
was the centre of a busy traffic, and on the high- 
way between Damascus and the Mediterranean. 
The caravans would carry his fame in both direc- 
tions. Possessed with devils. See note on 
Matt. 8 : 28-34. Lunatic. Literally, moon- 
struck ; probably subject to epilepsy. The same 
word is employed in describing a specific case in 
Matt. 17 : 15 ; see note on Mark 9 : 7, 8. Palsy. See, 
for cure of a specific case of palsy, Matt. 9 : 1-8 ; 
Mark 2 : 1-12 ; Luke 5 : 17-26 ; and for descrip- 
tion of disease, notes on the passage in Mark. 
Decapolis (ten cities), a region in the northeast- 
ern part of Palestine, near the lake of Gennesa- 
ret, and so called because it contained ten cities, 
which seem to have been endowed by the Ro- 
mans with some peculiar privileges. Their pop- 
ulation was mostly heathen. Jerusalem : in- 
cluding the territory round about Jerusalem. 
Beyond Jordan. East of the Jordan. In sec- 
ular history and in modern books of travel it is 
known as Perea (beyond). It is even to this day 
a comparatively unknown land. See as to its 
character, note on Matt. 19 : 1. 



Ch. 5, 6, 7. SERMON ON THE MOUNT.— The relig- 
ion op Jebus Christ is a religion op spiritual 
blessedness (1-16), op spiritual obedience (17-48), 
op humble piety (6 : 1-18), op singleness op service 
(19-24), op childlike trust in god (24-34), op charity 
and purity (7 : 1-6). it is a divine gtpt, is to be 
attained by prayer (7-12), by self-denial (13, 14), 
by practical obedience (15-27). the kingdom op 
Christ contrasted with earthly kingdoms (1-16), 
with the Mosaic commonwealth, i. e., the law 

(17-48), AND WITH THE RELIGION OP FORMALISM (6 : 

1 to 7 : 6). The conditions of citizenship in 
Christ's kingdom (7 : 7-27). — See note on Object 
op Discourse, and Analysis below. 

Preliminary Note. — Of this sermon there are 
two reports having some points in common and 
some marked differences, one and the fullest 
here, the other in Luke 6 : 20-49. The sermon 
is not reported by Mark or John. In reconciling 
these two accounts there are several hypotheses 
proposed, of which the principal are the follow- 
ing : I. That Luke has given a report of the ser- 
mon, and that Matthew has grouped around it 
a collection of the sayings of our Lord, uttered 
at different times during this period of his minis- 
try. But this is inconsistent with ch. 5 : 1, 2, which 
represents the discourse as given at one time, 
and no less so with the structure of the dis- 
course, which is as remarkable for its unity of 
thought as for the richness and the power of 
isolated passages (see analysis below). II. That 
Matthew has given a full report and that Luke 
has condensed from it. But Luke adds matter 
which Matthew does not give (Luke 6 : 24-26), nor 
is there anything in his account to indicate that 
it is borrowed or condensed from the previous 



report of another. III. That there were two 
distinct discourses, one preached by Christ to 
the disciples alone and recorded by Matthew, the 
other and briefer preached to the multitude, and 
reported by Luke. This opinion is maintained 
by Dr. Eddy (Life of Christ, pages 312, 313), 
Lange (Life of Christ, ii. 380-383), H. W. Beecher 
(Jesus the Christ, chap, xiv), following Tholuck, 
"Sermon on the Mount," and apparently Augus- 
tine. This hypothesis is pronounced " clumsy 
and artificial" by Jamieson, Faussett, and 
Brown, and "unlikely and unnatural" by Al- 
ford, and is rejected by Ellicott (Life of Christ, 
page 171, note), because it "has so much the ap- 
pearance of having been formed simply to recon- 
cile the differences as to locality and audiences, 
which appear in the two Evangelists, and in- 
volves so much that is unlikely and indeed unnat- 
ural." It can at best be said to be but a possibly 
true explanation. IV. That there was but one 
discourse, that it was delivered to the disciples 
in the presence of the multitude, and with refer- 
ence to the wants of both the infant church and 
the great body of the people, and that of it we 
have different reports, with such variations as 
would naturally occur in the subsequent record 
by different writers. This is the view of Pres- 
sense (Life of Christ, page 361), Ebrard (Gospel 
History, pages 270-272), Neander (Life of Christ, 
page 224), Bengel (Gnomon on Matthew 5:1; 
Luke 6 : 17), Olshausen ( Commentary, Matt. 5:1), 
Wordsworth (Commentary, Luke : 20), Robin- 
son (Harmony of the Gospels, § 41), and Town- 
send (New Testament, page 75, PI. Ill, note 42). 
Those who believe in the verbal inspiration of 
the Scripture will reject this view. Those who 
believe that the Evangelists were left to use 
their natural faculties in recalling and recording 
the events and discourses they reported, being 
guarded by the Spirit of God from all material 
error, such as could affect the truth they were 
appointed to teach, will generally regard it, as I 
do, as the most rational and probable opinion. 
"It is," says Alford, " the view taken by ordi- 
nary readers of Scripture," and is "also taken 
by most of the modern German commentators." 
Object of the discourse. Luke has given 
the time of the discourse ; Matthew has not. 
Jesus had carried on his ministry for some time 
in Galilee ; his fame had extended throughout 
the Holy Land ; he had wrought the cures which 
Matthew subsequently records. While his popu- 
larity was constantly increasing among the com- 
mon people (Mark i : 45; Luke 5 : 15, 16), his declaration 
that the Gospel was for the Gentiles (Luke 4 : 24-28), 
his disregard of the Pharisaic ceremonials, and 
his controversies with the Pharisees respecting 
Sabbath observance, as recorded in Matt. 12 : 1-9 ; 
Mark 2 : 23-28 ; 3 : 1-6 ; John, ch. 5, which had 
taken place previous to this time though re- 



84 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. V. 



CHAPTER V. 

AND seeing the multitudes, he went up into a 
mountain : and when he was set, his disciples 
came unto him : 



2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, say- 
ing, 

3 Blessed are the poor in d spirit: for their's is the 
kingdom of heaven. 



c Luke 6 : 20, etc. . . .d Isa. 67 : 15 ; 66 : 2 e Jas. 2 : 5. 



corded by Matthew subsequently, indicated the 
collision which was inevitable between his teach- 
ings and those of the Scribes and Pharisees. He 
summoned from the many that followed him, 
twelve to be his apostles (Luke 6 : 13-16) and the 
founders under him of the church which was to 
carry on the preaching of the Gospel after his 
death, and having consecrated them to their work 
he preached this sermon, primarily to them, but 
also to the great multitude who crowded to hear 
(Luke 6 : n). It was thus in a proper sense an in- 
augural discourse. It sets forth to his disciples 
and to the people the character of that kingdom 
of heaven which he had declared to be at hand, 
but it does this by contrasting it, firstly, with the 
old theocracy which it was to fulfill, and sec- 
ondly, with the righteousness of which the 
scribes were the expositors, and which it was to 
overthrow. 

Analysis. — The sermon may be briefly ana- 
lyzed as follows. The kingdom of God is one of 
blessedness, a blessedness which does not consist, 
however, in wealth and honor, but in character, 
in a lowly spirit, a merciful disposition, a pure 
heart. It brings earthly persecution but eternal 
reward (versos 1-12), and no one is worthy of it who 
has not the spirit to endure suffering for its sake 
(13-16). To make clear the nature of this king- 
dom, Christ points out its contrast with, first, 
the Mosaic law, and second, the traditional and 
ceremonial religion of the Scribes and Pharisees. 
He has been accused of disregarding the laws of 

Moses (Mark 2 : 24; John 6 : 10, 111). It is not tl'UC The 

Messiah comes to fulfill, not to repeal, the Old 
Testament law. He has been charged with irre- 
ligion ; he replies that the religion of his disci- 
ples must exceed that of their accusers or they 
can never enter the kingdom of God (17-20). He 
explains his first declaration by showing how the 
laws of the kingdom of heaven require all that 
the Mosaic law required, and much more, and 
illustrates this truth by pointing out that while 
the Mosaic law forbade murder, adultery, and 
perjury, and restrained revenge within certain 
definite bounds, Christ's law forbids anger and 
unhallowed thoughts, and requires simplicity in 
all speech, and love toward all men (21-43). He 
next illustrates the second declaration by depict- 
ing the vices which nullify all that is seemingly 
good in Pharisaism, the ostentation of the three 
good works of all formal religions — alms-giving, 
prayer, and fasting ; the greed which accompa- 
nies their pretended piety ; and the censoriousness 



which is the result of their self-righteous spirit 
(ch. 6 ; ch. 7 : 1-6). He finally, in a few brief aphor- 
isms, points out the way by which the soul may 
enter the kingdom of God (ch. 7 : 7-14) ; cautions his 
hearers against preachers of false doctrine ; gives 
a simple test of truth which every man, however 
unlearned, can easily apply for himself (15-23) ; 
and he closes by the declaration that discipleship 
consists not in hearing the truth, nor in profess- 
ing the truth, but in living the truth (24-29). 

The fact that this discourse possesses a unity 
as characteristic as that of any address of equal 
length in the Bible, if not in any literature, is a 
sufficient refutation of the idea that it is a mosaic 
of Christ's sayings, put together by Matthew ; 
the fact that it was preached for a specific pur- 
pose, viz., to exhibit the contrast of the religion 
of the Spirit with that of external observance, 
sufficiently indicates the reason why it contains 
no distinct enunciation of those doctrines of an 
atoning sacrifice, and a new and spiritual birth, 
which Jesus had already enunciated in private 
conversation with Ntpodemus (joim 3 : 1-8), and 
which he at a later period emphasized, not only 
in addresses delivered to his own disciples, but 
in those delivered to the people (Matt. 22 : 11-13; 25 : 
1-13. John ch. 6; ch. 10, etc.). At the same time the 
fundamental truth that the kingdom of heaven is 
the gift of God, is indicated clearly in chapter 7 : 
7-11. See notes there. 

1. And seeing the multitudes. To escape 
from them and to secure a private interview 
with his disciples (compare Mark 3 : 9, 13). Moun- 
tain. Not necessarily a particular mountain ; 
rather into the "hill-country." Luke Bays 
(ch. 6.-n) that he came down and stood in the plain 
(literally, level place). Nothing more is indicated 
by this than that he descended from one of the 
higher peaks to the plateau to give this dis- 
course, where it might be heard by the people as 
well as by the twelve. A tradition points out a 
hill, known as Mount Hattin, as the place where 
the sermon was delivered. The tradition is of 
no weight, but the hill itself contains a platform 
" evidently suitable for the collection of a multi- 
tude, and corresponding precisely to the ' level 
place ' to which he would ' come down,' as from 
one of its higher horns, to address the people." 
— (Stanley' s Sinai and Palestine, page 360.) And 
when he was set. The Jewish rabbis gave 
their instruction sitting, both in the schools and 
in the public preaching in the synagogues (Luke 4: 
20). His disciples. It is evident from Luke 



Ch. V.] 



MATTHEW. 



85 



4 Blessed are they that mourn :' for they shall be 
comforted.s 

5 Blessed are the meek : for they 11 shall inherit the 
earth. 



6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
righteousness : for' they shall be filled. 

7 Blessed are the merciful : for' they shall obtain 
mercy. 



f Isa. 61 : 3 ; Eze. 7 : 16 g John 16 : 20 ; 2 Cor. 1:7 h Ps. 37 : 11 i Ps. 145 : 19 ; Isa. 65 : 13. . . j Ps. 41 : 1, 2. 



6 : 13-16, that the twelve had been chosen and 
set apart to the apostleship immediately preced- 
ing this sermon. The account of their selection 
is given later by Matt. (10 : 1-5) in connection with 
the command given to them to preach the gos- 
pel. This commission must, however, have 
been preceded by some preparatory special in- 
struction. Comparing Luke and Matthew, the 
whole narratlv? will read as follows : "And it 
came to pass in those days that he went up into 
a mountain (rather, the hill country) to pray, and 
continued all night in prayer to God. And when 
it was day he called unto him his disciples, and 
of them he chose twelve, whom also he named 
apostles (Matt. 5:i; Luke 6 : 12, 13) ; and he came down 
with them, and stood in the plain (rather, a level 
place) with the company of his disciples, and a 
great multitude of people out of all Judea, etc., 
which came to hear him (Luke 6 : n) ; and he opened 
his mouth and taught them saying " (Matt. 5 : 2). 

2. And he opened his mouth. A not in- 
frequent introduction to a solemn and weighty 

discourse (Job 3 : 1 ; Psalm 78 : 2, referred to iu Matt. 13 : 35 ; 
Dan. 10 : 16 ; Acts 8 : 35 ; Ephes. 6 : 19). In the light Of 

these references such deductions as those of the 
fathers, "He who before had opened the mouth 
of Moses and the prophets opens now his own 
mouth " (Gregory), " in his very silence he gave 
instructions, and not when he spoke only ' ' ( Chry- 
sostom), though true, must be regarded as fanci- 
ful and far-fetched. 

Ch.5 : 3-16. FIRST GENFRAL DIVISION.- The CHAR- 
ACTERISTICS OP CHRIST'S TRUE DISCIPLES. 

3-12. The Beatitudes. These, which are 
eight in number (Luke adds four woes, 6 : 24-26), are not 
promises of blessings to be fulfilled in another 
life ; they are enunciations of certain general 
principles, according to which each grace of dis- 
position receives its own peculiar experience of 
blessedness. The Jewish people were looking 
for political supremacy, a kingdom like that of 
Greece and Rome, when the long promised and 
now more lately heralded kingdom of God should 
come. In these beatitudes Christ teaches, first, 
what are the characteristics of the kingdom of 
God, and second, what is its true pomp and 
glory. It is in some sense a contrast with the 
earthly rewards promised by the Old Testament 
(Deut. 30 : 20 ; isVnh i : 19, 20). Yet a hint of the beati- 
tudes is to be found even in the Old Testament 
(see references below). " Prosperity is the blessing of 
the Old Testament ; adversity is the blessing of 
the New ; which carrieth the greater benediction 



and the clearer revelation of God's favor. Yet 
even in the Old Testament, if you listen to Da- 
vid's harp you shall hear as many hearse-like 
airs as carols ; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost 
hath labored more in describing the afflictions 
of Job than the felicities of Solomon." — (Lord 
Bacon.) 

3. Poor in spirit. Those who possess a dis- 
position the reverse of proud in spirit and haugh- 
ty. The world still honors the high and haughty 
spirit ; it is the lowly iu spirit whom Christ de- 
clares blessed. Theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven. Is now, not shall be hereafter. The 
kingdom of heaven represents not a future state, 
but the condition of obedience to God here. 

(See note on chapter 3 : 2, and compare Rom. 14 : 17.) To the 

lowly in spirit repentance and confession are not 
difficult, and, therefore, to them the door of en- 
trance into the kingdom of heaven swings open 
readily. A parallel teaching is that of Psalm 
51 : 17, and Isaiah 66 : 2. " By spirit he hath here 
designated the soul, and the faculty of choice. 
Since many are humble not willingly, but com- 
pelled by stress of circumstances, letting these 
pass (for this were no matter of praise), he 
blesses them first who by choice humble and con- 
tract themselves." — (Chrysostom.) This beati- 
tude comes first because it is the foundation of 
all that follow, as repentance and confession are 
the entrance door into all the blessings which are 
attributed to the other graces — graces that be- 
long alone to the kingdom of God. 

4. Blessed are they that mourn ; not 
merely for their sins. It is an absolute promise 
to all those who in the kingdom of heaven are 
brought into the experience of mourning, and is 
to be interpreted by such passages as Eomans 
5 : 3-5, Hebrews 12 : 11, and Rev. 7 : 14. " Tears 
like rain-drops have a thousand times fallen to 
the ground and come up in flowers." — (H. W. 
Beecher.) "Every praying Christian will find 
that there is no Gethsemane without its angel." 
— (Binney.) Compare with this promise Eeeles. 
7 : 2, 3 ; Isaiah 61 : 2, 3 ; 66 : 13. 

5. Blessed are the meek. The Greek word 
here rendered meek (7tQ<iiic) occurs also in Matt. 
21 : 5 and 1 Pet. 3 : 4, and in a slightly different 
form in James 1 : 21 ; 3 : 13, and 1 Pet. 3 : 15. A 
comparison of these passages, together with 
those where the English word is the same, but 
the Greek is different in form, though from the 
same root, indicates its significance in the Scrip- 
ture. Meekness is a spirit the opposite of the 
ambitious and self-seeking one which is charac- 



86 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. V. 



8 Blessed are the pure in k heart : for they shall see 
God. 

9 Blessed are the 1 peacemakers : for they shall be 
called the children of God. 

io Blessed are they which are persecuted for right- 
eousness'" 1 sake : for their's is the kingdom of heaven. 



ii Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and 
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against 
you falsely, for my sake. 

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your 
reward" in heaven : for so persecuted they the proph- 
ets which were before you. 



k Ps. 24 : 3, 4 ; Heb. 12 : 14 ; 1 John 3 : 2, 3 1 Ps. 34 : 14 ml Pet. 3 : 13, 14 i! Cor. 4 : 17. 



teristie of kings (Matt. 21 : 5), the opposite of the 
ambitious and self-assertive one which is charac- 
teristic of controversialists (1 Pet. 3 : 15). The root 
of meekness is the dominance of spiritual over 
earthly desires. It is the characteristic of one 
who seeks first the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, and leaves all other things to 
God's care (Matt. 6 : 33). Inherit the earth. 
Not the new heavens and the new earth, nor the 
land of promise, i. e., the heavenly kingdom here- 
after, nor great spiritual blessings here, but lit- 
erally the earth. Christ declares that the enjoy- 
ment of earthly blessings belongs not to those 
who grasp for them, and assert and maintain 
with vehemence and care their right to them, 
but to those who hold them lightly, and who, 
ranking them inferior to spiritual blessings, are 
not burdened by them while they possess them, 
nor harassed lest they lose them. " Selfish men 
may possess the earth ; it is the meek alone who 
inherit it from the heavenly Father, free from all 
defilements and perplexities of unrighteous- 
ness." — (John Woolman's Journal, page 36.) This 
beatitude is found almost in the same form in 
Psalm 37 : 11 ; and the substance of the same 
truth is contained in Isaiah 57 : 13 ; 60 : 21. See 
also Matt, 19 : 29. 

6. Hunger and thirst. Not merely desire, 
but so desire that we cannot be denied. Though 
it is Satan who said, "All that a man hath will 
he give for his life ' ' (job 2 : 4), it is, nevertheless, 
substantially true ; and he who has a similar de- 
sire for righteousness will count no sacrifice too 

great tO secure it (Matt. 10 : S?-39, and parallel passages). 

Righteousness. Perfect conformity to the will 
of God respecting us, as represented to us in the 
life and character of Christ, our example. Shall 
be filled. All other desires are liable to be dis- 
appointed ; the desire for righteousness, if it be 
supreme — not merely the wish, but the choice of 
the soul, can never be disappointed. Even suc- 
cess fails to satisfy other desires ; the desire for 
righteousness shall be filled. Compare Psalm 
17 : 15 ; 65 : 4 ; 107 : 9. 

7. Merciful. Mercy as a feeling is that habit 
of mind which leads one to feel pity and compas- 
sion rather than resentment toward a wrong- 
doer ; and as an act, it is the exercise of forgive- 
ness in the largest sense, i. <?., of good- will and 
helpfulness toward those who have wronged us 
and who are deserving of punishment. It is the 
highest exercise of love, because it is love to- 



ward not only the undeserving, but the ill-deserv- 
ing, and involves sympathy not only for the un- 
fortunate, but for the wrong-doer. Shall ob- 
tain mercy. Not only from men, because the 
tender consideration of the merciful from others 
reacts in tender regard of others for ourselves, 

but alSO from God (Ps. 18:26; Prov. 3:34; compare Matt. 

is : 23-35). " Mercy turns her back to the unmer- 
ciful. ' ' — ( Quarles. ) 

8. Pure in heart. They who are not merely 
clean ceremonially or morally, i. e., in external 
conduct, but in motive and purpose. Compare 
Psalm 51 : 6; Prov. 4 : 23. Shall see God. 
Not merely hereafter, but now. True knowl- 
edge of God comes not through an intellectual 
study of his attributes, but through a spiritual 
conformity to his character (John 14 : 15, 17, 21, 23; 

2 Cor. 3 : 18; Heb. 12:14; 2 Pet. 1 : 8). As we grow in 

grace we grow in the knowledge of God (2 Pet. 
3 : is). The converse is also true ; when we see 
him as he is, we shall be by the sight made like 
him (1 John 3 : 2). For parallel to this promise, see 
Psalm 24 : 4, 5. " We must be in some way like 
God in order that we may see God as he is." 

9. Peace-makers. Not merely they who 
reconcile differences between man and man, 
though such peace-making is included, but they 
who, by their presence and disposition, as well 
as by their conscious acts, carry with them the 
spirit of peace and quietness, and bring peace to 
others who are perturbed and troubled. See for 
a wondrous illustration of such peace-making 
John 14 : 27. One condition of such peace-making 
is the maintenance of a quiet and peaceful heart 
amidst all experiences of turmoil. As Solomon 
contrasts him who maintains peace in himself 
with the conqueror (Prov. 16 : 32), so Christ con- 
trasts him who produces peace with the war- 
makers whose victories were the envy of the 
Jews, and by whose prowess they expected to 
see the kingdom of God ushered in. Shall be 
called. Shall not only be the children of God, 
but shall also be recognized as such. It is this 
peace-giving quality which above all others is 
counted among men as saintliness. Observe 
that, as in James 3 : 17, so here, purity precedes 
peace, and that there is no true peace-making 
which is not also in so far pure-making. "No 
peace was ever won from fate by subterfuge or 
agreement ; no peace is ever in store for any of 
us, but that which we shall win by victory over 
shame or sin — victory over the sin that oppresses 



Ch. V.] 



MATTHEW. 



•87 



13 Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have 
lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? it is 
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and 
to be trodden under foot of men. 

14 Ye are the light? of the world. A city that is set 
on an hill cannot be hid. 



15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a 
bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto 
all that are in the house. 

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may 
see your good works, and glorifyi your lather which 
is in heaven. 



o Mark 9 : 50 p Phil. 2 : 15 q 1 Pet. 2:12 



as well as over that which corrupts." — (Buskin.) 
In this truth is found the reconciliation of such 
passages as this with Matt. 10 : 34. 

10. Compare 1 Peter 3 : 14. Not merely be- 
cause a heavenly reward compensates the perse- 
cuted for their sufferings, though this is true 

(see Luke 16 : 25 ; and Rev. 7 : m), but more because the 

persecution itself intensifies the martyr's abhor- 
rence of evil, and drives him to a closer refuge 
in God. The truth is illustrated in many a Chris- 
tian experience, is embodied in the hymns of the 
Christian Church, as in the lines, 

Man may trouble and distress me, 
'T will but drive me to thy breast, 

and is exemplified in the fact that the greatest 
purity of the Christian Church has been in times 
of persecution, its greatest corruption in the 
time of its wealth, its honor, and its worldly 
prosperity. "So long as the waters of persecu- 
tion are upon the earth, so long we dwell in the 
ark ; but where the land is dry, the dove itself 
will be tempted to a wandering course of life, 
and never to return to the house of her safety." 
— (Jeremy Taylor.) 

11, 12. The preceding verse is the last of the 
beatitudes, each of which is seen to be the enun- 
ciation of a law which connects with each seem- 
ing lowliness of character, or bitterness of 
sorrow, a real experience of grace and glory. 
The 11th and 12th verses are addressed more di- 
rectly and immediately to Christ's own disciples, 
as an encouragement in view of approaching 
contumely and persecution. In the other prom- 
ises Christ says not, blessed are ye, but blessed 
are the poor, they that mourn, the meek, etc. 
Observe the qualifications of this blessing : 
"Lest thou shouldest think that the mere fact 
of being evil spoken of makes men blessed, he 
hath set two limitations ; when it is for his sake, 
and when the things that are said are false ; for 
without these he who is evil spoken of, so far 
from being blessed, is miserable. "—(Chrysostom.) 
Reward. Of grace, not of debt. See Romans, 
ch. 4, and parable of the laborers, Matt. ch. 20, 
and note there. For so persecuted they, etc. 
Compare Matt. 23 : 29-31. Every age persecutes 
its own prophets, and reveres the prophets whom 
the preceding age has persecuted. 

13. Ye are the salt of the earth. The 
significance of the metaphor consists not merely 
in the fact that salt is the great antiseptic, but 



also in its peculiar quality of imparting a flavor 
to everything with which it is mixed. Livy calls 
Greece "the salt of the nations." Observe that 
salt must be mingled with whatever it is to fla- 
vor ; and Christians are to mingle with men, not 
to live in monkish solitude apart from them ; 
they are to carry religion into daily life, not to 
keep it for the closet and the church. Lost its 
savour. "It is a well-known fact that the salt 
of this country (Palestine), when in contact with 
the ground, or exposed to rain and sun, does be- 
come insipid and useless. From the manner in 
which it is gathered much earth and other impu- 
rities are necessarily collected with it. Not a 
little of it is so impure thai, it cannot be used at 
all, and such salt soon effloresces and turns to 
dust — not to fruitful soil, however. It is not 
only good for nothing itself, but it actually de- 
stroys all fertility wherever it is thrown ; and 
this is the reason why it is cast into the street. 
So troublesome is this corrupted salt that no 
man will allow it to be thrown on to his field, 
and the only place for it is the street, and there 
it is cast to be trodden under foot of men." — 
(Thompson's Land and Book, vol. ii, p. 44. ) Good 
for nothing. Salt is a great antiseptic. Its func- 
tion in ordinary culinary purposes is to prevent 
decay and corruption. This is the function of 
the Christian Church. It does this by its spirit 
of self-sacrifice ; by showing itself willing to 
suffer for truths and principles which the world 
but dimly recognizes, or not at all. If the 
church loses this spirit of self-sacrifice, it be- 
comes itself corrupt, ceases to be a purifier and 
preserver, and is "good for nothing." Observe, 
that the salt cannot restore that which is decayed, 
but only preserve from decay. "That men 
should be set free from the rottenness of their 
sins was the good work of Christ ; but their not 
returning to it again any more was the object of 
these men's diligence and travail." — (Chrysos- 
tom.) 

14. Light of the world. Because Christ is 
in the midst of his church, which otherwise pos- 
sesses no light (John 1 : 9; 8 : 12; Ephes. 5:8; Rev. 1 : n). 

It is not truth in abstract forms, but truth em- 
bodied in living men, and chiefly incarnate in the 
man Christ Jesus, which is the light of the world ; 
i. e., example is more than precept, life is more 
than philosophy. A city set on a hill. Pos- 
sibly an allusion to Jerusalem. There is no au- 
thority for the notion that some city was in sight 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. V. 



17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or 
the s prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to 1 ful- 
fill. 



18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and eartb 
pass, ODe jot or one tittle" shall in no wise pass from 
the law, till all be lulfilled. 



r ch. 3 : 15 s Isa. 42 : 21 t Ps. 40 : 7, 8 u Luke 10 : 17. 



at the time of the delivery of this sermon, though 
that may have heen the case. 

15. Candle. This word often occurs in our 
version of the Scripture, where a lamp is more 
probably meant (jot>i8: 6; Ps. is: 28). But candles 
made of wax or tallow, with the pith of a kind 
of rush for the wick, were used at this time 
among the Romans and probably among the 
Jews. 

10. Good works. Does this conflict with 
what Paul says about good works ? No ! for 
though we are saved by faith, it is unto good 
works (Ephes. 2 : 10). Let your light so shine 
. . . that they may glorify your Father. 
The Pharisee displays his light (see ch. g) ; the true 
Christian simply lets his shine. The Pharisee 
glorifies himself by his works ; the true disciple 
of Christ glorifies only his heavenly Father. Ob- 
serve that in these verses (13-16) Christ teaches 
that the pre-eminence which Christian character 
and conduct gives to the true disciple is a part 
of the divine intention ; and hence rebukes the 
fear of being odd, and the tendency to conform 
to the world in its habits and usages ; also that 
lie puts example above precept, and thus impli- 
edly teaches, what Paul declares most clearly, 
that the greatest heresies are not in doctrine, but 
in life (l Tim. i : o-io). 

Ch. 5 : 17-48. SECOND GENERAL DIVISION.— The 
Laws op the kingdom of Chbist contrasted with 
those of Moses. 

17. Think not that I am come to destroy. 

This charge had already been made against 
Jesus (John 5 : 16, is) ; was substantially made 

against Paul (Acts 21 : 20, 21 ; Rom. 3 : 8, 31 ; 6 : 1) ; in the 

sixteenth century was made against Luther ; 
and is still made against every one who preaches 
the liberty of the Gospel. I am not come to 
destroy, but to fulfill, i. e., to fill to the full 
the ancient laws with their own true and spirit- 
ual meaning. But see further below. In these 
words Christ declares the relations of the law 
and the Gospel, a theme to which we must con- 
stantly recur, especially in Paul's writings. 
Without essaying a full interpretation, a work 
which" belongs to the preacher rather than to the 
commentator, it must suffice to say here : 

I. That by the term law the whole Mosaic sys- 
tem is meant. The Bible nowhere makes a dis- 
tinction between the moral and the ceremonial 
law. The whole is treated as one system, and 
the relation of the Gospel to the one is its rela- 
tion to the other. Observe that it is a portion of 
the ceremonial law which is apparently retained 



by the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15 : 28, 29) ; and 
the moral law, written in the hearts of the Gen- 
tiles as well as in the books of the Jews, which 
is treated of in Romans, chaps. 2 and 3. It is tam- 
pering with the plain meaning of Scripture to 
suppose that Christ destroyed the ceremonial but 
retains and enforces the moral law. See par- 
ticularly verse 18, and James 2 : 10. 

II. The N. T. nowhere treats any part of the 
law as abolished or repealed. The popular idea 
that it repeals the Jewish Sabbath and re-enacts 
a new one has no warrant in Scripture. There is 
no repealing clause in the New Testament; and 
nothing in it to set aside the O. T., or any part 
of it, as obsolete, common, old-fashioned, and 
useless. Paul may seem to treat a part of the 
law as repealed, in such passages as Ephes. 2 : 15 
and Col. 2 : 14 ; but he carefully and indignantly 
repudiates this inference in Rom. 3 : 31, and im- 
pliedly so in 1 Timothy 1 : 8. 

III. The proximate object of law is the protec- 
tion and welfare of the community ; its ultimate 
object is the development of character ; but this 
it essays to accomplish only by forming right 
habits of conduct. Law, therefore, regulates 
only the external conduct. In the nature of the 
case, civil laws, enforced by civil penalties, can- 
not deal directly with the heart. While, there- 
fore, the ultimate object of law (1 Tim. 1 : 5) and its 
indirect effect (rs. 19 : 7, 8) is the improvement of 
character, it is composed necessarily of specific 
precepts commanding or forbidding actions. It 
prohibits adultery, not lust ; murder, not anger ; 
because this is all mere law can do. 

IV. The Gospel operates directly on the heart. 
It not only requires purity in thought and love, 
and forgiveness in feeling (see below) ; it bestows 
moral and spiritual power (John 1 : 12) ; and so, by 
making the character divine, removes all occa- 
sion for laws regulating the conduct. When the 
character is conformed to the divine image, the 
end of the law is fulfilled, and the law itself be- 
comes useless and is forgotten. "As the shell 
breaks when the bird is hatched ; as the sheath 
withers when the bud bursts into leaf ; as the 
rough sketch is done with when the picture is 
finished ; as the toys of boyhood are laid by in 
adolescence ;" so the system of law, which is pre- 
paratory only, is superseded, not repealed or de- 
stroyed, and this just in the proportion in which 
the individual, the community, or the race comes 
into a moral 6tate in which it no longer needs 
to be commanded and forbidden (g»i. 3 : 24, 2s j 
4 : 1-6). 



Ch. V.] 



MATTHEW. 



89 



V. The mere external law regulating conduct 
was all that was recognized by the Pharisees or 
by the great majority of the Jews ; just as even 
now the precepts of Christ constitute in the 
thought of many the chief part of Christianity. 
Yet in the O. T. are hints that the law looked to- 
wards something higher than a well-regulated 
conduct. See, for example, such commands as 
Exod. 20 : 17 ; Lev. 19 : 18 ; Deut. 0:5; 10 : 12 ; 
and such passages as Isaiah 1 : 16, 17 ; 66 : 2 ; and 
Micah 6 : 8. Indeed, the prophets are full of a 
constant protest against a mere obedience to the 
letter of the law, and insist on a spiritual life. 
Thus Christ does not destroy even that concep- 
tion of the law which the ancient Jews — that is, 
the best among them — entertained, but fulfills 
the meaning of the ancient statutes by the dis- 
closure of a life more deeply spiritual than aDy 
of which the prophets had ever conceived. It is 
to the contrast between the mere legal obedience 
rendered by the Pharisees and the spiritual life 
to which the law, rightly interpreted, should 
conduct, that Christ refers in verse 20. 

In three ways, then, does Christ fulfill the law ; 
first, by giving it in his exposition a fuller and 
more spiritual meaning than the Pharisees im- 
puted to it or than we now ordinarily impute 
to it, or even to his precepts ; second, by illustrat- 
ing its end and object, the development of a per- 
fect character, by his own life, free from re- 
proach, even by the Pharisees (John 8 : 4c), because 
perfect in spirit ; and third, by giving to his dis- 
ciples the power, which the law never gave, of 
obedience, by changing the desires and aspira- 
tions of the heart, and so making the character 
to act out, naturally and free from restraint, the 
life which the law alone required from unwilling 
subjects through fear, but was unable to secure 
(Rom. 8 : 3, 5 ; Heb. 2 ; io). These principles will be 
recurred to hereafter in this work, and are em- 
bodied here in a brief statement partly for that 
purpose. They explain and are explained by the 
illustrations which follow. What becomes of the 
law against murder to one who is never under 
the dominion of anger, or of the law against 
adultery to one who is perfectly pure in thought, 
or of the law against forswearing to one who has 
been cured of the evil, from which all exaggera- 
tions and undue expletives come (see verse s?), or 
of the law against excessive punishment and re- 
venge to one who loves his enemies ? 

Observe in this connection how Christ set him- 
self before the people as the one that was to 
come, and as the fulfiller of the whole imperfect 
and prophetic system of Moses. "When you 
know what it means and how long mankind had 
been kept waiting for it, there is sublimity in the 
composure with which this simple preacher of 
God sets himself forth as the fulfiller."— {Dykes.) 
Observe, also, that he declares it his mission to 



fulfill the prophets as well as the law ; that is, in 
him and the kingdom he has come to establish, 
the whole system of O. T. prophecy, type, and 
symbolism, is fulfilled. 

18. Verily. A common precursor of a sol- 
emn and weighty declaration ; but so used only 
by Christ. See, for examples, 6 : 2, 5 ; John 
3 : 3, 5, 11 ; and Concordance, word verily. It is 
the Greek word Amen, and is used in the N. T. 
as an appellation of Christ (Rev. 3 : u), and also as 
a solemn close of prayer, being repeated by the 
people as their ratification or endorsement of it 
(i Cor. m: 16; Rev. 5 : 14; 19 : 4), in which case it is ren- 
dered in our version by the word Amen. I say 
unto you. Christ appeals to himself as author- 
ity, here and elsewhere, in his most solemn and 
weighty disclosures of truth; his "I say unto 
you ' ' is equivalent to the prophetic formula, 
"thus saith the Lord." Jot or tittle. Jot is 
the Hebrew Jod, the smallest letter in the He- 
brew alphabet ; littles, literally horns, are the 
little turns of the strokes by which one Hebrew 
letter differs from another rimilar to it. At the 
time of Christ the O. T. scripture existed of 
course only in manuscript. In the Hebrew 
Bible are over 06,000 jots. The Hebrew copyists 
were scrupulous to the last degree, and regarded 
the slightest error in their copy fatal. For the 
purpose of illustration, Christ takes this well- 
known veneration of the copyists for the most 
minute details in their copying. Till all be 
fulfilled. Just in the proportion in which, by 
the baptism of the spirit and the regeneration 
and sanctification of the character, the law is 
fulfilled, it ceases to bind, but no farther. If lust 
and anger are still in the heart, the law against 
adultery and murder are not superseded. It is 
in the failure to recognize this truth that the 
Antinomians fell into capital error. 

The note of Dean Alford on this verse appears 
to me so important that I transcribe the most 
essential portion of it in full : "It is important 
to observe in these days how the Lord here in- 
cludes the Old Testament and all its unfolding of 
the divine purposes regarding himself, in his teach- 
ing of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. I 
say this, because it is always in contempt and set- 
ting aside of the Old Testament that rationalism 
has begun. First, its historical truth, then its 
theocratic dispensation and the types and prophe- 
cies connected with it are swept away ; so that 
Christ came to fulfill nothing, and becomes only 
a teacher or a martyr ; and thus the way is paved 
for a similar rejection of the New Testament, 
beginning with the narratives of the birth and 
infancy, as theocratic myths, advancing to the 
denial of his miracles, then attacking the truth- 
fulness of his own sayings, which are grounded 
on the Old Testament as a revelation from God, 
and so finally leaving us nothing in the Scriptures 



90 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. V. 



19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these 
least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall 
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven : but 
Whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be 
called great" in the kingdom of heaven. 



20 For I say unto you, That except your righteous- 
ness shall exceed w the righteousness of the scribes 
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the kingdom 
of heaven. 

21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 



1 Sam. 2 : 30 w ch. 23 : 23-28 ; PM1. 3 : 9. 



but, as a German writer of this school has ex- 
pressed it, 'a mythology not so attractive as 
that of Greece.' That this is the course which 
unbelief has run in Germany should be a preg- 
nant warning to the decriers of the Old Testa- 
ment among ourselves. It should be a maxim for 
every expositor and every student, that Scripture 
is a whole, and stands or falls together." 

19. Break. Rather relax. The Greek word 
here used (/.va>) is generally translated loose, and 
when not used metaphorically embodies the idea 
of freeing from restraints, as in Mark 1:7; Luke 
13 : 15 ; 19 : 30, 31 ; John 11 : 44. The same idea 
appears to be generally involved in its metaphor- 
ical use, as . in Matt. 16 : 19 ; Acts 2 : 24. And 
even when it embodies the idea of destruction, a 
general dissolution is ordinarily involved, as in 
2 Pet. 3 : 11, 12. Least in the kingdom of 
heaven. See note on next clause ; and on mean- 
ing of phrase, kingdom of heaven, see note on 
Matt. 3 : 2. Whosoever shall do — in the spirit 
and fulness with which Christ fulfilled all right- 
eousness — and teach — expounding the law as 
Christ in this chapter expounds it, so as to bring 
out its spiritual meaning, and accomplish its spir- 
itual purposes — shall be called great in 
the kingdom of heaven. Chrysostom, and 
following him Owen, interpret the phrase " king- 
dom of heaven " here as equivalent to the " time 
of the resurrection and that awful coming," and 
"least in the kingdom " as equivalent to cast out 
from it. But our Lord does not say that he who 
loosens the obligations of the law shall be ex- 
cluded from the kingdom, but shall be least in 
■it, and our duty is to find out what he says, not 
to substitute for it something which we re- 
gard as equivalent. The question of admis- 
sion to or exclusion from the kingdom is not 
raised here at all, and to regard "least in the 
kingdom" as equivalent to excluded from it, 
and great "in the kingdom" as not denoting 
grade or rank, but a full and free entrance into 
it, is not only to miss the meaning of this pass- 
age, but to make admission into the kingdom to 
rest upon obedience to law, which is never rec- 
ognized in tlte N. T. as the condition of admis- 
sion. The natural and plain meaning of Christ's 
words affords the true interpretation. To relax 
the obligation of law either by precept or exam- 
ple is not the way to attain eminence in piety 
' ourselves, or to promote it in others. The true 
way to overcome the spirit of externalism and 
legalism in the church is not by relaxing the 



obligations of obedience, but by teaching men 
the doctrine of a higher obedience. The true way, 
for example, to correct a formal technical and 
servile observance of the Sabbath, is not by re- 
laxing the Sabbath-law, but by leading up to a 
higher appreciation of Sabbath rest and Sabbath 
worship ; and so of all law. Of such true teach- 
ing Paul's Epistle to the Romans affords, when 
studied as a whole, a wondrous illustration. 

20. Scribes. This term, which is sometimes 
used in the N. T. to designate certain officers 
whose duty it was to keep the official records of 
the Jewish nation, or to act as private secreta- 
ries of distinguished individuals, is ordinarily 
applied in the N. T. to persons devoted to read- 
ing and expounding the law. They generally 
appear in connection with the Pharisees ; but it 
would appear from Acts 23 : 9, that there were 
Scribes attached to the other sects also. The 
Scribes customarily opposed themselves to our 
Lord ; watching him to find matter of accusation 
(Luke 6 : 7, n) ; perverting his sayings and his ac- 
tions (Matt. 9 : 3; Luke 5:30; 15:2); and Seeking 

to entangle and embarrass him by questions 

(Matt. 12 : 38; 21 : 23; Luke 20 : 21, 22). They took 

the place, though they did not fulfill the 
functions, of the ancient prophets ; and their 
authority as expounders of the law is recognized 
by our Lord himself (Matt. 23 : 1, 2). They kept 
schools for the teaching of the law and the com- 
mentaries thereon (Luke 2 : 46 : Acta 5 : 34 ; compare with 22 : 
3, and see Jos. Antiq. 11 : 6, 2) ; they alSO Copied the law, 

and at a later date wrote commentaries upon it, 
and engaged with each other in fruitless and often 
heated discussions, respecting questions in rab- 
binical theology and casuistry. Pharisees. 
See note on Matt. 3 : 7. Their righteousness 
was one of external obedience to law merely ; 
that of Christ's disciples must be higher — the 
obedience of the heart and the spirit. Observe, 
that Christ does not denounce the obedience of 
the Pharisees, here or anywhere in the N. T (com- 
pare 23 : 23) ; he denounces their hypocrisies ; but he 
overturns formalism and legalism, not by de- 
nouncing it, but by propounding a higher stand- 
ard. The true way to overcome evil is always 
by pointing out and inciting to a better way. 
Ye shall in no case enter, etc. Compare 
7 : 21 ; 25 : 31-46 ; John 3:5; Phil. 3 : 4-10. 

21-48. These verses embody in five examples 
illustrations of the general principles laid down 
in verses 17-20. They show how it is that Christ 
fulfills the law, and in what sense the Christian 



Ch. V.] 



MATTHEW. 



91 



time,* Thou shalt not kill : and whosoever shall kill 
shall be in danger of the judgment : 

22 But I say unto you, 'ihat whosoever is angry 
with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of 



the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his broth- 
er, Raca, shall be in danger of the council : but who- 
soever shall say, Thou tool, shall be in danger of hell 
fire. 



x Ex. 20 : 13 ; Deut. 5 : 17. 



righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes 
and Pharisees. 
21-26. Fibst example. Law against murder. 

21. Ye have heard— viz., in the synagogues 
where the O. T. Scriptures were read in a course of 

leSSOnS, On the Sabbath (compare Luke 16 : 29; Acts 13 : 27) 

— that it was said by them of old time 
— rather, probably, to them of oJd time. 

Either rendering is grammatically correct, but 
the weight of authority appears to sanction the 
latter, and the contrast throughout this chapter 
is not between Christ and Moses as law-givers, 
but between the laws addressed to the world in 
its childhood, and those addressed to the disci- 
ples of Christ as the children of God ; between 
the law of servitude of the old time, and the law 
of liberty which Christ ushers in (cai. i ■. 1-3, 7 ; James 
1 : 25). Thou shalt not kill. Murder was 
prohibited (Exod. 20 : 13) ; the penalty was death 
(ch. 21 : 12) ; but provision was made for the escape 
of one accidentally killing another, from the re- 
venge of the next of kin, and for determining 
whether the killing was or was not intentional 
(Numb., ch. 3s). Judgment. Not the final judg- 
ment ; the laws of Moses, like any other code of 
civil laws, depended for their enforcement on 
temporal rewards and punishments. Judges 
were appointed in every city (Deut. 16 : 18), accord- 
ing to Josephus, seven to each city. It was by 
this tribunal the case of the manslayer was de- 
termined (compare Numb. 35 : 13, 24, 25 with Josh. 20 : 4). It 

is to this judgment Christ here refers. The tri- 
bunal might, if they could not determine the 
case, certify it for decision to the Sanhedrim, the 
chief court of the Jews at Jerusalem. — (Jose- 
phus' Ant. 4 :8, 14.) 

22. Without a cause. There is some doubt 
whether this word has not been inserted by the 
copyists to soften the apparent rigor of the pre- 
cept. However that may be, the Bible recog- 
nizes elsewhere a righteous anger (Ephes. 4 : 26 ; 

James 1 : 19; Ps. 7 ; 11 ; Rev. 6 : 16). Judgment, i. C, in 

Christ's kingdom, not as in verse 21, judgment 
in the Jewish commonwealth. There is between 
verses 21 and 22 a transition from the ancient 
law, which was enforced by temporal punish- 
ments, to the spiritual law, which is enforced by 
the judgments of God. But the Jewish terms 
"judgment," "council," and "hell-fire" are 
used metaphorically to indicate degrees in the 
divine penalties of the future world. Raca — 
empty. A general term of contempt. Coun- 
cil. The Sanhedrim, the highest court of judi- 
cature, answering as a judicial body to our Su- 



preme Court, or rather to the English House of 
Lords, since it exercised both judicial and legis- 
lative functions. Fool. Rather, probably, rebel. 
Baca is a Hebrew word ; probably the word used 
here was also, in the original, Hebrew ; but in at- 
tempting to preserve the Hebrew sound in Greek 
characters, a Greek word was used. The Greek 
word means fool, the Hebrew rebel. If we pre- 
serve the Hebrew significance here the climax is 
preserved. Fool and Raca would, on the contrary, 
be nearly synonymous. If I am right in this the 
obnoxious word embodies a bitter judgment of 
one's spiritual state, decrees him to certain de- 
struction, and answers to the most common 
form of modern profanity. Hell-fire. There 
are two words in the N. T. translated hell. 
One is Hades (<"/<5»)<:), and always signifies sim- 
ply the place of departed spirits ; the other 
is Gehenna (yesva), and is the word used 
here. It indicates, by a significant metaphor, 
the place of future punishment. To the 
southeast of Jerusalem was a deep and fer- 
tile valley called the vale of Hinnom, or, in 
Greek, Gehenna. In a particular portion of this 
valley, known as Tophet (isa. 30 : 33; jtr. 7 : 31,32; 
19 : 6, 11), the idolatrous Jews burned their chil- 
dren in sacrifice to Moloch. In the reformation 
instituted by Josiah (2 Kings 23 : 10) this valley was 
polluted, and thereafter became the place for 
casting out and burning offal and the corpses of 
criminals. Hence the phrase, " fire of Gehenna," 
translated "hell-fire," was employed to indicate 
the place of future punishment. Here and in 
Matt. 10 : 28 ; 18 : 9 ; 23 : 15, 33 ; Mark 9 : 43, 45, 
47 ; Luke 12 : 5 ; Jas. 3 : 6, the word translated 
by hell is Oelienna ; and the idea conveyed is, 
undoubtedly, a place of punishment. In all 
other passages in the Bible where the word hell 
occurs, the meaning of the original would be more 
appropriately expressed by the word Hades. 

Observe : 1. That the comparison of judgment, 
council, and hell-fire indicates that future punish- 
ment is adjusted according to the sin of the con- 
demned ; 2. That adjustment of punishment is 
graded exactly according to the sin, "to unjust 
anger the just auger and judgment of God, to 
public reproach a public trial, and hell-fire to 
that censure that adjudgeth another thither."— 
(Lightfoot) ; 3. That the outward expression of 
anger in words enhances the sin ; the highest 
duty is not to be angry ; nevertheless, if one is 
angry, it is a secondary duty to restrain all ex- 
pression of it. Observe, also, how these two 
verses illustrate the meaning of the general prin- 



92 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. V. 



23 Therefore, if thou bring thy gift? to the altar, and 
there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against 
thee, 

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy 
way ; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come 
and offer thy gift. 

25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou 
art in the way with him ; lest at any time the adversary 



deliver thee z to the judge, and the judge deliver thee 
to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 

26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means 
come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost 
farthing. 

27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 
time, Thou shalt not commit adultery : 

28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh 3 on 



y Deut. 10 : 16, IT z Prov. 25 ; 8 ; Luke 12 : 58, 59 a Job 31 : 1 ; Prov. 6 : 25. 



ciple laid down in verse 17. "Is 'Be not angry ' 
contrary to ' Do no murder ? ' or is not the one 
commandment the completion and the develop- 
ment of the other ? Clearly, the one is the ful- 
filling of the other, and that is greater on this 
very account. Since he who is not stirred up to 
anger will much more refrain from murder, and 
he who bridles wrath will much more keep his 
hands to himself. For wrath is the root of mur- 
der, and you see that he who cuts up the root 
will much more remove the branches, or, rather, 
will not permit them so much as to shoot out at 
all. ' ' — ( Chrysostom.) 

23, 24. Gift. Sacrifice. Compare Matt. 
8:4; 23:18, 19. Altar— in the Temple. To 
bring a sacrifice to the altar was the Jewish 
method of public worship. The modern equiva- 
lent would be, "If thou goest to church." 
Hath aught. Justly or unjustly . The question 
whether you are in the right or wrong does not 
arise. If there is a variance, it is to be reconciled. 
As God in Christ sought to reconcile the world 
unto himself (2 Cor. 5: 19), so are we to seek to rec- 
oncile those that are in enmity to us. He that 
is sure he is right is the one to seek reconcilia- 
tion. Against thee. If others have any com- 
plaints against us, and we have not done all we can 
to remove them, our worship is unacceptable ; 
on the other hand, if we have aught against 
others, we are to forgive before we bring our 
offering (Mark ii: 25, 26). Leave there thy gift. 
. . . then come and offer thy gift. The 
whole language implies the urgency of the case. 
It is better to let even the worship of God be in- 
terrupted than that brotherly love should not 
continue ; and indeed there is no true worship 
where the heart fails in brotherly love. Compare 
with this teaching John 14:31, 23, with 15:12, 
17 ; and 1 John 4 : 7, 8, SO. It gives a hint why 
prayer is often unavailing and worship unsatisfy- 
ing. Compare John 9 : 31 and Isaiah 1 : 10-15. 

Is ChrisVs direction here to be literally interpreted? 
Must the Christian, for example, stay away 
from the communion table if there is an unrec- 
onciled variance between himself and another ? 
No ! not if either, first, he has done all he can to 
remove it, or, second, he is ready to do all that 
he can and will put his resolution in execution at 
the first opportunity. If, however, he is unwil- 
ling to obey Christ's law of love, his worship is 
worse than useless. "The important thing is to 



go to thy brother, not with the feet, but with 
the heart." — (Augustine.) Provided, however, 
that the feet go as soon as possible. It is the 
love, not of sentiment, but of action, which is 
commanded. Compare James 2 : 15, 16. 

25, 20. Officer. An official among the Jews 
whose position and duties were substantially 
those of a modern constable or police-officer. 
There is some difficulty in the interpretation of 
these verses, and an effort has been made to give 
them a symbolical meaning. But such a meaning 
is certainly secondary, not primary. Adver- 
sary. Not the devil, for we are not to agree 
with him ; nor God, who is never represented in 
the N. T. as our adversary. The Roman law 
directed the plaintiff and defendant to make up 
the matter on their way to the judge ; after the 
case came before the judge, the law must take 
its course. The primary reference is perhaps to 
this provision. It is, at all events, counsel on 
the side of earthly prudence. Worldly wisdom, 
as well as duty toward God, advises to speedy 
reconciliation ; and the more imperious your op- 
ponent and the farther the quarrel has gone, the 
wiser is it to seek reconciliation. This is sub- 
stantially the view of Chrysostom, of Lightfoot, 
and of Barnes. Alford adds a spiritual deduc- 
tion, which is legitimate and may have been in- 
tended, but is not necessarily involved in the 
words. "As in worldly affairs it is prudent to 
make up a matter with an adversary before 
judgment is passed, which may deliver a man to 
a hard and rigorous imprisonment, so reconcilia- 
tion with an offended brother in this life is abso- 
lutely necessary before his wrong cry against us 
to the Great Judge, and we be cast into eternal 
condemnation." Farthing. A small coin equal 
to two mites and equivalent to about seven mills 
of our money. " These words, as in the earthly 
example they imply future liberation, because 
an earthly debt can be paid in most cases, so in 
the spiritual counterpart they amount to a nega- 
tion of it, because the debt can never be dis- 
charged. ' '— (Alford.) Matt. 18 : 30 ; Luke 7 : 42. 

27-32. Second example. Law against adultery. 

27. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 
(Exod. 20 : 14.) By the Mosaic law the punishment 
of this crime was the death of both parties by 
stoning, Lev. 20 : 10 ; Deut. 22 : 22-27 ; but if the 
woman were a slave she was to be whipped, not 
put to death, and the man was to bring a tres- 



Oh. V.] 



MATTHEW. 



93 



a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery 
with her already in his heart. 

29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and 
cast it from thee : for it is profitable for thee that one 
of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole 
body should be cast into hell." 

30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and 
cast it from thee : for it is profitable for thee that one 
of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole 
body should be cast into hell. 

31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his 
wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement :° 

32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put 



away his wife, d saving for the cause of fornication, 
causeth her to commit adultery : and whosoever shall 
marry her that is alvorced, committeth adultery. 

33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by 
them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, 6 but 
shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths : 

34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all : f neither by 
heaven ; for it is God's throne : 

35 Nor by the earth ; for it is his footstool : neither 
by Jerusalem ; for it is»' the city ot the great King. 

36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because 
thou canst not make one hair white or black. 

37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea ; Nay, 



b Rom. 8: 13; 1 Cor. 9 : 27.... c Deut. 24 : 1 ; Jer. 3 : 1; Murk 10: 2-9.... d ch. 19 : 9 ; 1 Cor. 7 : 10, 11. 
Deut. 23 : 23. . . .1' ch. 23 : 16-22 ; Ju*. 5 : 12. . . .g Rev. 21 : 2, 10. 



..e Lev. 19 : 12 ; Num. 30 : 2 ; 



pass offering (Lev. 19 : 20-22). In case a wife were 
suspected of adultery by her husband, a singular 
ordeal was provided for her trial, the only case 
of trial by ordeal known to the Jewish law (Numb. 
5 : 11-31). 

28. Looketh .... to lust. Not every ris- 
ing of evil inclination is classed with adultery ; 
not every lust, nor every looking, but the looking 
to lust, i. e., the indulgence in an evil imagination. 
Whether the evil act be outwardly committed, 
or be committed in imagination only, the out- 
ward act being restrained by fear or shame, does 
not determine the question of guilt. Neither 
does our Lord say that there is no difference be- 
tween the act of imagination and the actual overt 
sin ; but that God sees, recognizes, and con- 
demns the former as a real violation of the law 
against adultery : as a civil statute it affects only 
the conduct ; as interpreted by Christ, it applies 
to the inward man also, (compare job 31 : 1 ; Prov. 6 : 25.) 
For illustration of the violation of this law, thus 
interpreted, and the crimes to which it led, see 
the story of David and Bathsheba, 2 Sam., ch. 11. 

29. If thy right eye— the more important 
of the two— offend thee — i. e., tempts thee to 
sin. The original means primarily to cause one 
to stumble, or to fall. It is used in the N. T. 
generally, if not exclusively, in the sense of lead- 
ing one into sin, or at least into moral perplexity. 
The following passages will suffice to indicate its 
various uses : Matt. 15 : 12 ; 17 : 27 ; 18 : 6 ; John 
6 : 61 ; 1 Cor. 8 : 13. Pluck it out. A symbol 
of the thoroughness of the work. If self-denial 
is required, it is best to do it quickly and com- 
pletely. For it is better. The greatest self- 
sacrifice is really for our self-interest. " The eye 
to be plucked out is the eye of concupiscence, 
and the hand to be cut off is the hand of violence 
and vengeance; i. e., those passions are to be 
checked and subdued, let the conflict cost us 
what it may."— {Porteus.) But much more than 
that is meant ; these verses make short work of 
all defenses of habits and recreations confessed 
to be injurious in their effects, but defended on 
the ground that they are not wrong per se. The 
hand and eye are not only in themselves innocent, 
they are, in their right use, highly important. To 



deprive one's self of them is both to maim the 
person and to lessen one's means of usefulness. 
Whatever, then, tempts the individual, or his 
neighbor, or the community, into sinful courses, 
even though it be not only in itself innocent, but in 
its right employment important, is to be put away 
until it ceases to be a source of temptation. 
Asceticism — that is, the denial of a real good for 
the sake of a higher good — has its root in a right 
principle, though its common manifestations 
have many of them been egregiously wrong. 
Compare for other illustrations of this general 
principle, in its wider application, Matt. 18 : 0-10 ; 
Rom. 11 : 19-21. 

31, 32. The law referred to is to be found 
in Deut. 24 : 1. Fornication. This is not 
cited as another example of the contrast be- 
tween the external law of Moses and the spirit- 
ual law of Christ, but as a further illustration 
of the subject of adultery. To put away 
one's wife, save for the one cause, or to marry 
one that has been put away, Christ declares to 
be embraced among the sins which the law 
against adultery, spiritually interpreted, prohib- 
its. The general subject of divorce is more fully 
considered by Christ in Matt. 19 : 3-9. See 
notes there. 

33-37. Third example. Law against swearing. 

33-35. TJiou shalt not forswear thyself— 
swear falsely. False swearing and profane and 
idle use of the name of God are both prohibited by 
the third commandment (Exod. 20 : 7). The Hebrew 
word which answers to in vain may certainly be 
rendered either way, and probably includes both. 
Compare Lev. 19 : 13. False swearing is yet more 
distinctly forbidden by Numb. 30 : 2 and Deut. 
23 : 21-33. The false witness received the same 
punishment which was due for the crime to 
which he testified. (Deut. 19 : 16-19.) Neither by 
heaven . . . nor by the earth. " The Jews 
held all those oaths not to be binding in which 
the sacred name of God did not directly occur." 
—{Afford quoting Philo.) So Lightfoot quoting 
from the rabbinical books, "If any one swear by 
the heavens, by the earth, by the sun, it is not 
an oath." See, however, Matt. 23 : 16-22. 
Swearing, in ordinary conversation, is much 



94 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. V. 



nay : for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of 
evil. h 



38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An' eye for 
an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : 



h Jas. 5 : 12 i Ex. 21 : 24. 



more common in the East than here. "The 
people now use the very same sort of oaths that 
are mentioned and condemned by our Lord. 
They swear by the head, by their life, by heaven, 
and by the Temple, or what is in its place, the 
church. The forms of cursing and swearing, 
however, are almost infinite, and fall on the 
pained ear all day long." — {Thompson' 's Land and 
Boole, 2 : p. 284.) God's throne .... God's 
footstool . . . the city of the great King, 
The significance of an oath consists in its calling 
God to witness the truth of the assertion. All 
such quasi oaths do this indirectly. 

36. Neither by thy head, because 

thou canst not make one hair white or 
black. Protestations of friendship were fre- 
quently confirmed by touching the forehead and 
6wearing by it ; and this custom is still main- 
tained in the East. Christ says : Even your head 
is not your own ; to swear by it is to swear by 
him who made it. 

Christ here condemns all those " half- veiled " 
blasphemies which, common in our times as 
in his, are nearly all traceable, historically, 
to an appeal, more or less direct, to the name 
of God. They are either, (a,) like I swan, I 
swow, I vum, corruptions of I swear, I vow ; or, 
(&,) like gosh, gol, golly, corruptions of the name of 
God ; or, (c,) like gracious, goodness, mercy, glory, 
etc., appeals to God by some one of his prominent 
attributes ; or, id,) like mercy on me, or laws-a-mas- 
sey, an abbreviation of the solemn oath, "If this 
be not true, may the Lord have mercy on me ; ' ' 
or, (e,) like darn it, dang it, darnation, palpable ab- 
breviations of damn and damnation, the most 
solemn possible of all forms of imprecation, gen- 
erally on an enemy, real or imaginary, living or 
inanimate r a travestie on the Christian appeal to 
the God of Justice to do justice to wrong-doers 
(Rom. 12 : 19) ; or, (/,) like the deuce, the dickens, the 
old nick, all terms for the devil, and abbrevia- 
tions of "to the devil," or "the devil take it," 
a less solemn form of the same imprecation ; or, 
(g,) like confound it, plague take it, etc., an uncon- 
scious prayer to God to bring real or supposed 
enemies into confusion and failure (compare Psalm 40 : 
14; 70 : 2) ; or, (/(,) like upon my soul, by my life, a 
pledging of one's life, or one's eternal destiny, 
in support of his assertion, as in Josh. 2 : 12-14, in 
which case there is an implied call on God to exe- 
cute the penalty. Thus nearly all the expletives 
used in common and even fashionable life to 
strengthen or confirm our assertions are de- 
generate oaths, a direct violation of the third 
commandment as Christ here interprets it. And 



it is no answer to this to say that those who use 
such phrases do not intend blasphemy by them ; 
frequently those who use more directly the name 
of God in vain, mean nothing by their impreca- 
tion. The meaningless use of such language is itself 
a violation of the simplicity of Christian discourse, 
even when it does not indicate a bitter, angry, or 
irreverent mood. 

37. Cometh of the evil. The wordhere trans- 
lated " evil," when coupled with the article as it 
is here, in the Greek though not in our version (<> 
7tov>]Qoc, the evil), sometimes stands for the evil- 
one, i. e. Satan (Matt. 13 : 10 ; 1 John 2 : 13, 14), and is ren- 
dered the wicked one. This signification here 
would be in accordance with James 3:6. In the 
other and more general sense, it is true that all 
swearing, genteel or otherwise, comes of evil, i. e., 
of an underlying consciousness that simple asser- 
tion is not enough, that our word is not to be 
trusted, that some witness must be called in to 
attest it ; and as God, who knows all things, is 
the only witness, we call on him. If truth were 
perfect there would be no occasion to emphasize 
our assertions by such appeals ; and in point of 
fact, falsehood and profanity generally are close 
companions. Throughout this chapter Christ is 
giving directions for the individual character, 
not for the community. This passage does not, 
therefore, necessarily forbid oaths in courts of 
justice, any more than verses 38 and 39 forbid 
punishment from being inflicted by the State. 
Tet it is true that even judicial oaths come of evil ; 
i. e. , if truth were never violated in the community, 
there would be no need of solemn asseverations 
to give weight to testimony in the administra- 
tion of justice. And, in fact, in Christian courts 
the oath, as an appeal to God, has been in a con- 
siderable measure superseded by a mere affirma- 
tion. 

38-42. Fourth example. Law of retaliation. 

38. An eye for an eye, etc. Exod. 21 : 
24 ; Lev. 24 : 20 ; Deut. 19 : 21. Natural revenge 
does not stop at mere retaliation. For an insult 
is given a blow ; for a blow with the fist one with 
the knife. The laws of Moses were a check on 
personal revenge and undue severity of punish- 
ment, for they forbade the injury inflicted to ex- 
ceed the injury received. The same principle, 
viz., that the punishment should be as the 
offence, and determined by it, is found in the 
laws of Solon of Greece, in the laws of the 
twelve tables of Rome, and others. On the other 
hand, the laws of Draco (7th century B.C.) pun- 
ished every crime, even petty theft and idleness, 
with death; and those of England, a.d. 1600, 



Ch. V.] 



MATTHEW. 



9£ 



39 But I say unto you,J That ye resist not evil : but 
whosoever shall smite thee 11 on thy right cheek, turn to 
him the other also. 

40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take 
away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 



41 And whosover shall compel thee to go a mile, go 
with him twain. 

42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that 
would borrow of thee turn not thou' away. 



j Prov. to : 22 ; 24 : 20 ; Rom. 12 : 17-19. . . .k Isa. 50 : G 1 Deut. 15 : 7, 11. 



263 crimes in the same manner, while those of 
Moses provided capital punishment but for 
twelve crimes. The Mosaic law of retaliation 
was permissive, not compulsory. The injured 
party might require retaliation in kind at the 
hands of the magistrate ; but except in the case 
of murder (Numb. 35 : 31) he might take satisfaction 
in money, in which case the damages were ad- 
justed according to the injury done (see Exod. 21 : 30). 
Such money redemption was ordinarily substi- 
tuted for the infliction of the penalty. This law 
was for the regulation of the administration of 
justice by the government. Christ does not 
condemn it as a law of justice, but he declares in 
this and the next section (43-48) that his followers 
are to be governed in their personal relations by 
the law of love. 

39. Resist not the evil — literally the evil, 
i. e., the evil 011c. Christ implies here what the 
Scripture elsewhere abundantly asserts, that the 
malice and wrong-doing of the world to the dis- 
ciples of Christ is the work of the devil (compare 
1 John 2 : 13, 14 ; Rev. 2 : 10). So he transfers our anger 
from the instrument to the real cause of the 
wrong-doing. " What then, it is said ; ought we 
not to resist the evil-one? Indeed we ought, 
but not in this way, but as he hath commanded, 
by giving one's-self up to suffer wrongfully ; for 
thus shalt thou prevail over him." — (Uhrysos- 
tom.) So Christ conquered Satan by yielding 
himself an unresisting victim to his malice. 

40. Coat . . . cloak. The coat was a tunic 
made commonly of linen, and extending to the 
knees. The cloak or mantle was larger and more 
expensive, was commonly made nearly square, 
and was wrapped round the body like a cloak, but 
was thrown off for the purposes of labor. It 
was also used as a wrapper at night, hence might 
not be taken by a creditor (Exod. 22 : 20, 27). Christ's 
precept, then, is in principle, Submit to even a 
palpable injustice, without color of law, rather 
than resist even by an appeal to the law. This 
is not merely a precept of worldly wisdom, 
though worldly wisdom justifies it, nor an obso- 
lete requirement applicable only to the heathen 
tribunals of Christ's day, nor an absolute law, so 
that a follower of Christ cannot ever apply to 
the courts for redress without violating Christ's 
prohibition. These aphorisms are expressions of a 
Christian spirit, not enactments of a new law. 
See below. It is, nevertheless, noticeable that 
the tendency of Christianity has been, first, 
to lessen personal resistance to evil, and sec- 



ond, to discourage lawsuits ; and that while 
the commentators have difficulty with this 
passage, Christian lawyers constantly advise 
their clients, as matter of worldly wisdom, to 
submit to almost any injustice rather than to 
involve themselves in a lawsuit. "To seek the 
redress of grievances by going to law is like sheep 
running for shelter to a bramble-bush." — (Sel- 
wyn.) "To go to law is for two persons to kin- 
dle a fire at their own cost to warm others, and 
singe themselves to cinders." — (Bentham.) A 
lawyer "is a learned gentleman who rescues 
your estate from your enemies, and keeps it him- 
self." — (Brougham.) So far has this conviction 
gone that the abolition of all laws for the collec- 
tion of debt, except in cases of fraud, is seriously 
considered by able jurists in this country. And 
yet English and American justice is immeasura- 
bly superior to that administered by Oriental or 
Roman courts in the time of Christ. Compare 
with this precept 1 Cor. 6 : 7. 

41. Whosoever shall compel thee to go, 
etc. The word translated compel is of Persian 
origin. Footmen were employed from a very 
early period of history in carrying despatches (l Sain. 
22 : n ; 2 chron. 30 i o, io ). At a later period this service 
was performed with mules and camels (Esther 3 : 13, 
with 15 ; 8 : 10, u). It was continued under the Roman 
government, and these heralds were authorized 
to compel any person to accompany them as 
guides or assistants, or to lend them a horse, 
boat, or other means of transportation. A simi- 
lar law is in force in Persia to this day. The 
Jews particularly objected to the duty thus im- 
posed on them. Christ's disciples were to yield 
to the demand, though oppressive and injurious. 

42. Give to him that asketh of thee. 
Compare for a proper understanding of this 
verse Christ's promise to his disciples (John 14 : 14), 
and his own practical interpretation of it. He does 
not always give what we ask, but often far dif- 
ferent (2 Cor. 12 : 8, 9). Sometimes, too, we do not 
receive because we ask amiss (James 4 : 3). In this, 
as in all else, Christ is his own interpreter, and 
his example explains his precept. "To give 
every thing to every one — the sword to the mad- 
man, the alms to the impostor, the criminal re- 
quest to the temptress — would be to act as the 
enemy of others and ourselves." — (Alford.) It 
must never be forgotten that Christ throughout 
this sermon is speaking of the spirit which should 
animate his followers ; and the spirit of Christi- 
anity is one which leads the followers of Jesus 



96 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. V. 



43 Ye have heard that it hath been said,™ Thou shalt I 44 But I say unto you, Love" your enemies, bless 
love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy : them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 



m Deut. 23 : 6 n Rom. 12 : 14, 20. 



Christ to give to every true want; judgment 
keeps it from becoming indiscriminating, and 
so injurious. Borrow. Contrast with this 
verse the spirit of the heathen world, as exem- 
plified in the saying of Cicero, that alms should 
be given to a stranger only when it involves no 
privation to ourselves. Compare with it, as an 
evidence and illustration that Christ does but 
fulfill the spirit of the ancient law, the provision 
in Deut. 15 : 8-10. 

Christ's principles respecting retalia- 
tion. In considering the significance of this en- 
tire passage respecting retaliation (vs. 38-42), it is to 
be remembered, (a,) that Christ throughout this 
sermon inculcates principles for the government 
of the individual, not of the community ; and 
that, therefore, it does not affect, except indi- 
rectly, the right or duty of the community to use 
force in protecting itself or its members from 
evil ; (&,) that it does not affect the question of 
the right of the community to overturn a tyran- 
nical government, and substitute another and 
more just and equable one in its stead ; (e,) that 
it does not necessarily deny the right or duty of 
one to use force, if need be, in defending others 
intrusted to his protection, as the husband his 
wife, or the father his child ; (d,) that it incul- 
cates the spirit in which the disciple of Christ is 
to receive injuries personal to himself, and that 
to interpret it as a series of mere rules for the 
regulation of conduct is to fall into the very 
error of Pharisaism, which the Sermon on the 
Mount is aimed to correct. With these qualifi- 
cations (if they are to be regarded as qualifica- 
tions) the precepts are not difficult to be under- 
stood ; the only serious difficulty is in complying 
with them. To set them aside, by treating them 
as Oriental forms of speech, as exaggerations 
which we are to qualify, as impracticable rules 
proposed only to stimulate us to greater gentle- 
ness, as an ideal which we are not to expect 
to realize in the present state of society, but 
only to strive toward, appears to me to be sub- 
versive of all right reading of the Bible. Let 
us either frankly say that Jesus was mistaken, 
and laid down principles which cannot be applied 
in the common intercourse of life, or let us ac- 
cept those principles as coming with divine au- 
thority from a divine master, and measure our 
common intercourse of life by them. So accept- 
ed they will be seen to cover the whole ground 
of personal resistance and retaliation to wrong. 
They include injustice inflicted by personal vio- 
lence (v. 39), that attempted to be inflicted by an 
appeal to the law (v. 40), and that inflicted by an 



oppressive and tyranical government (v. 41). In 
each case Christ counsels submission to wrong, 
rather than resistance to it ; and he has abun- 
dantly interpreted these precepts by his own 
illustrious example ; the first precept by his pa- 
tient suffering of personal indignity (Matt. 26 : 67, 68; 
and compare isa. 53 : 7) ; the second by his payment of 

a tax UnjUStly exacted (Matt. 17 : 24-27, and note there) ; 

the third by his yielding to the infliction of 
scourging and crucifixion after a trial which vio- 
lated the forms of law as palpably as it contra- 
vened justice, and his refusal to permit the use 
of violence as a means of rescue. See report of 
his trial, and notes there, and compare Matt. 26 : 
51-58 ; Luke 22 : 50, 51. Observe that, yielding 
himself, he protested against the injustice to 
which he nevertheless submitted (Matt. 26 : 55 ; John 
18 : 19, 23), and, seemingly by a miracle, provided for 
the escape of his disciples (John 18 : o-s). 

On the other hand observe that, even regarded 
merely as laws, these aphorisms do not require un- 
limited yielding to wrong. Turning the other cheek 
does not require continued submission if experi- 
ment proves it unavailing ; giving the cloak does 
not forbid the Christian from having recourse to 
the law ; going two miles is not going indefinitely. 
Paul's precept, "If it be possible, as much as lieth 
in you, live peaceably with all men' ' (Rom. 12 : is),evi- 
dently implies limits to non-resistance. He recog- 
nizes a right use of the sword (Rom. 13 : 4) ; and he 
himself appealed to Roman law for protection (Acts 
10 : 37 ; 22 : 25), and directly to Cassar from an unjust 
judge and a malignant prosecutor (Acts 25 : 11). 

43-48. Fifth example. The law regulating 
our relations with enemies. 

43. No law is to be found in tlio O. T. answer- 
ing the description here given. But the O. T. 
does inculcate in many passages an abhorrence 
of heathen character and heathen habits (Deut. 7 : 1, 

2, 16, 23-26 ; 12 : 27, 32 ; Josh. 23 : 12, 13 ; Ps. 139 : 21, 22) ; while 

the law of love has an appearance of being con- 
fined in its application to the Israelites (Lev. 19 : 17, 
18; compare Deut. 23:3-6). As we teach our children 
to abhor that which is evil in character and con- 
duct, and to avoid all evil companions, but after- 
ward build up on that a love for those who are 
evil and a spirit that seeks them out to redeem 
them, so God, in the childhood of the race, 
taught it only to abhor the evil practices and 
character of the heathen ; but on this Christ 
built up the higher law of personal love to the 
wrong-doer, a love which is practically perfectly 
consonant with an abhorrence of their sinful prac- 
tices, and of the sinful character of which those 
practices are the fruit. The Pharisee had con- 



Ch. V.j 



MATTHEW. 



97 



and pray for them which despitefully use you, and 
persecute you ; 

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which 
is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise* 1 on the evil 
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on 
the unjust. 



46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward 
have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye 
more than others ? do not even the publicans so ? 

48 Be ye therefore perfect,' even as your Father 
which is in heaven is perfect. 



o Luke 23 : 34; Acts 7 : 60 p Job 25 : 3 q Gen. 17 : 1 ; Deut. 18 : 13 ; Luke 6 : 36, 40 ; Col. 1 



founded the moral abhorrence of the sin with 
personal hate of the man ; and the exact parallel 
to the precept here condemned is to be found in 
the rabbinical writings ; e. g., " An Israelite who 
sees another Israelite transgressing and admon- 
ishes him, if he repents not, is bound to hate 
him." 

44. Love your enemies. This is in a meas- 
ure interpreted by what follows. Yet it is a law 
•of the heart, not of conduct merely ; it means 
more than bless, do good, pray for ; it is inter- 
preted by God's love for us when we were yet 
enemies (Rom. 5:8; Ephes. 2 : 4, 5), and it is quite con- 
sistent with the utmost abhorrence of their 
wrong-doing, from which by love we seek to re- 
deem them. Bless them that curse. Seek 
God's blessing on those who call down upon you 
God's curses (compare Rom. 12 : 14, 19-21). The Greek 
word (sv/.oyi c-j), which in our version is here trans- 
lated "bless,'''' never means in the N. T. to speak 
well of, nor does the word (zaraquofiui), trans- 
lated curse, ever mean to slander. The one sig- 
nifies to invoke the divine blessing, the other to 
imprecate a curse. The latter is composed of 
two Greek words, signifying prayer against. For 
parallel to the direction of this verse, see Ephes. 
4:32; for illustration of the precept Joseph's 
treatment of his brethren, Gen. ch. 45, especially 
verses 5, 10, 11, 15, and eh. 50 : 15-21. It should, 
perhaps, be added that the clauses in this verse, 
"Bless them that curse you and do good to 
them that hate you," are omitted from some of 
the best manuscripts. But as they appear in 
Luke 6 : 27, 28, where there is no question of 
their genuineness, there is no reason to doubt 
that they were uttered by Christ as we have 
them in our present report, though Matthew 
may have omitted them and they have been 
transferred from Luke to Matthew by some of 
the copyists of the latter. The 44th verse is the 
climax to which the sermon from verse 21 has 
conducted. "Seest thou how many steps He 
hath ascended, and how He hath set us on the 
very summit of virtue ? Nay, mark it, number- 
ing from the beginning. A first step is, not to 
begin with injustice ; a second, after he hath 
begun, not to vindicate one's self by equal retal- 
iation ; a third, not to do unto him that is vexing 
us the same that one hath suffered, but to be 
quiet; a fourth, even to give one's self up to 
suffer wrongfully ; a fifth, to give up yet more 
than the other wishes, who did the wrong ; a 



sixth, not to hate him who hath done so ; a sev- 
enth, even to love him ; an eighth, to do him 
good also ; a ninth, to entreat God Himself on 
his behalf." — (Chrysostom.) 

45. In this way ye shall become the 
children of your Father. Both a reason for 
and the reward of so loving and doing good to 
our enemies. As the climax of Christian duty is 
loving one's enemies, so the climax of Christian 
reward is the becoming like God (compare Ephes. 

5 : 1. 

46. The publicans. The Roman tax-gath- 
erers. See note on Matt. 9 : 10, 11. They are 
here a type of purely worldly men. If the 
Christian acts on the same principles as the man 
of the world, what right has he to- expect any 
different regard or treatment from God '? 

47. Salute. The Oriental salutation was 
generally in form a prayer for divine blessing 

(Gen. 43:29; Ruth 2:4; 1 Sam. 15:13; Ps. 129:8). The 

Pharisees only saluted members of the same re- 
ligious faith ; the modern Mohammedan eon- 
fines his salutation to Mohammedans. Hence, 
Christ's inculcation was a direct innovation on 
the almost universal usage of his day. Its ap- 
plication to professing Christians who refuse to 
speak to those who have offended them is so 
plain as to need no enforcement. More than 
others. The Christian may not compare him- 
self with others and be satisfied because he is as 
others. Both God and men expect more of him 
than of others, and this in the common inter- 
course of daily life. 

48. Perfect. Rather complete. The word 
never signifies in N. T. usage sinlessness, but 
completion in Christian character in contrast 
with a half-finished and partial character, a 
character that is Christian in some parts and 
worldly and selfish in others. This verse sums 
up that portion of the Sermon on the Mount in 
which Christ has developed the Christian ideal 
of character. It is the complement of verses 17 and 
20. In it Christ explains in what consists the ful- 
fillment of the law and the prophets. " The an- 
cient statutes, " says Christ in effect, "forbade 
murder, adultery, false-swearing, cruelty in re- 
venge. A complete obedience embraces the 
whole man, and brings the spirit as well as the 
members under allegiance to these laws. The 
ancient statute commanded love to your neigh- 
bor ; the spirit of that statute requires love to 
all mankind. You are to aim not at an external 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. VI. 



CHAPTER VI. 

TAKE heed that ye do not your alms before men, to 
be seen of them : otherwise ye have no reward 
of your Father which is in heaven. 



2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not 
sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in 
the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have 
glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their 
reward. 



obedience to laws and regulations, but at the at- 
tainment of a character which in all its conduct 
8hall conform to the law, and in all its faculties 
to the image of Him whose sons you are called 
to be." In brief, one may be an imperfect, but 
one cannot be a partial Christian. He may obey 
Christ imperfectly, but he cannot obey in part 

and disobey in part (6 : 24 ; compare Ephes. 4 : 13 ; Col. 1 : 28 ; 

4 : 12). The lesser interpretation, as Alford, " Com- 
plete in your love of others, not one-sided or ex- 
clusive," has grown out of a fear of giving coun- 
tenance to the doctrine of human perfectibility. 
But the passages which require perfection, I. e., 
completion of character, are numerous and can- 
not be explained away. God requires perfection 
of his disciples as the wise teacher continually 
holds perfection before his pupils ; not condemn- 
ing those who fall short (see Rom. 8 : 1), but not al- 
lowing them to rest satisfied with incomplete 
attainment. "The goal is not brought to the 
racers, but the racers must strive to reach the 
goal." — (Conder.) 

Ch. (i ; 1-34; 7 : 1-6. THIRD GENERAL DIVISION.— 
The principles op life in Christ's Kingdom con- 
trasted WITH THE PRACTICES OF THE PHARISEES. 

1-18, The first eighteen verses of this chapter 
constitute a warning against the dangers of os- 
tentation in religion, applied to almsgiving, 2-4 ; 
prayer, 6-15 ; and fasting, l(i-18. The word 
almsgiving in the first verse should be ren- 
dered righteousness (see below), and the verse itself 
constitutes a general precept of which the verses 
following are particular applications, and consti- 
tutes, as it were, the text of this portion of the 
discourse, as do verses 17-20 of chapter 5 of the 
rest of that chapter. It may be paraphrased 
thus : I have set before you the nature of that 
righteousness of the spirit which the laws of God, 
as spiritually interpreted, require of you ; I now 
warn you to be on your guard lest you fall into 
the snare of doing the deeds of your righteous- 
ness before men for the sake of securing their 
approval, instead of seeking only the approval of 
your heavenly Father. 

1-4. First example. Almsgiving. 

1. Take heed. For the danger of ostenta- 
tion in religion is one that must be watched 
against, one that easily ensnares the unwary dis- 
ciple (compare Exod. 23 : 13; Deut. 11 : 16 ; Matt. 26 : 41 ; 1 Cor. 

10:12). Not to do your righteousness. 

The best manuscripts have here righteousness 
(Stxaioavvij), not alms (U(r]/xoavrt]), as in the re- 
ceived text and in our English version. There 
is some uncertainty about the reading ; that 



which I have adopted is sustained by Lange, 
SchafC, Wordsworth, Alford, Tregelles, Tischen- 
dorf, Lachmann, Griesbach. To be seen. This 
qualifies the preceding clause. Not all doing of 
righteousness before men is condemned, not all 
public almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, but that 
the object of which is human applause. "We are 
to be seen to do good, but not to do good to be 
seen (Gal. i : 10)." — ( Wordswwth.) Otherwise, 
i. e., as explained below, if your object is human 
applause. No reward of your Father. Not 
no reward, but no reward from God. They who 
do righteousness for public applause receive 
public applause, i. e., the very reward for which 
they strive. 

'2. Therefore. A specific deduction from the 
general principle. When thou doest alms. 
There is no question here as to whether almsgiv- 
ing is or is not a wise form of charity, nor how 
far it is to be carried ; nor in the sections below 
are the general questions of prayer and fasting 
considered. Christ simply takes the three chief 
"good works" of Pharisaism to illustrate the 
principle that in our religious life we are to avoid 
ostentation. Almsgiving, however, is abund- 
antly enforced as a religious duty both in the 
Old and the New Testaments. The laws of 
Moses required provision to be made for the poor 

(Lev. 19 : 9, 10 ; 23 : 22 ; Deut. 14 : 28, 29 ; 15 : 11 ; 24 : 19 ; 26 : 2-13) ; 

and the importance of obedience to these pre- 
cepts is recognized elsewhere in the Scriptures 

(Job 29:13; Pa. 41 : 1 ; 112:9; Prov. 14 : 3l). The N. T. 

abounds not less in precepts whose spirit requires 

Charity toward the poor (Luke 14:13; Acts 11 : 27-30 ; 
20 : 35 ; Rom. 15 : 25, 27 ; 1 Cor. 16:1-4; Gal. 2 ; 10 ; 1 Tim. 5 : lo) ; 

while at the same time the systematic begging 
carried on by the mendicant monks finds no 
sanction in its pages, and we are impliedly 
guarded against encouraging idleness by indis- 
criminate giving (2 Thess. 3 ; io). Do not sound 
a trumpet. " Not that they had trumpets, but 
he means to display the greatness of their frenzy 
by the use of this figure of speech, deriding and 
making a show of them thereby." — (Chrysostom.) 
It was customary to call the people together by 
a trumpet to see a great spectacle (Numb. 10 : 3 ; 
2 Kings 9:13; Ps. 8i : s) ; and even up to as late a 
period as the fifth century, when bells were first 
introduced in the churches, the people were 
summoned to public worship by the blowing of 
a trumpet. It is probable the reference is to this 
custom. It is possible that Mr. Barnes' conjec- 
ture may be correct, and that the Pharisees 
really did summon the beggars by the use of a 
trumpet, blown ostensibly to call them together, 



Ch. VI.] 



MATTHEW. 



99 



3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand 
know what thy right hand doeth. 

4 That thine alms may be in secret : and thy Fa- 
ther, which seeth in secret, himself shall reward' thee 
openly. 



5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the 
hypocrites are : for they lore to pray standing in the 
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they 
may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They 
have their reward. 3 



r Luke 8 : 17 ; 14 : 14 s Prov. 16 : 5 ; 



really to make public proclamation of the charity 
about to be bestowed. It is said that the Mus- 
eulmen tc this day are accustomed to call the 
poor together by a trumpet to receive gilts of 
rice and other kinds of food. Hypocrites. 
Literally, stage-player or actor ; i. e., one who 
puts on his religion as an actor puts on his char- 
acter for the evening's performance. The vir- 
tues which he assumes as Hamlet and the vices 
■which he represents as Macbeth are not his own. 
The word is said to be found in a religious sense 
only in the N. T. Our translation and our habit- 
ual usage of the word hypocrite deprives the 
sentence of its keen but delicate satire. They 
have. Gt. (dni^w), receive in full. In Phil. 4:18, 
"I have all," the verb is the same. Their re- 
ward. The reward they seek. 

3. Let not thy left hand know. Simply a 
pithy enforcement of the doctrine. Compare 
with it the Eastern proverb, "If thou doest any 
good, cast it into the sea ; if the fish shall not 
know it, the Lord knows it ;" or the rabbinical 
maxim, "He who gives in secret is greater than 
Moses himself ;" or the saying of Drydeu, " The 
secret pleasure of a generous act is the great 
man's great bribe." For illustration of this pre- 
cept, see Ruth 2 : 15-17. 

4. Openly. Not only in the judgment at the 
last day (Matt. 55 : 40 ; Luke is ; 8), but also in the be- 
stowal of the divine favor, in the recognition of 
the invisible world now (Heb. 12 : 1), and some- 
times in providential disclosures in this life. See 
for example the case of Cornelius, Acts 10 : 4, 
whose secret almsgiving has been published to 
the whole world. Observe that Christ does not 
condemn the desire for the approval of others ; 
but he lifts it up into a higher sphere. Strive, 
he says, not for the approval of men, whose 
standard of moral judgment is low, but for the 
approval of God and his holy angels. "It were 
not meet for him who desires glory to let go 
this our theatre, and take in exchange that of 
men. For who is there so wretched as that 
when the king was hastening to come and see 
his achievements, he would let him go, and make 
up his assembly of spectators of poor men and 
beggars ? " — {Chrysostom.) 

In this passage Christ does not forbid public 
giving which he elsewhere commends (Mark 12 : 44), 
which the apostles by their example approved 
and by their words commanded in connection 
with the services of the early church (Acte 4 : 34, 35 ; 

21:30; Romans 15 : 26, 27 ; 1 Cor. 16 ; 1, 2), but giving for 



the sake of publicity to he seen of men. It is the 
spirit of ostentation which our Lord here con- 
demns, as it is the spirit of purity and love which 
he has before commended. Neither does he 
directly condemn all appeals to men to give for 
the sake of what is expected of them by us ; and 
Paul based appeals to the Corinthians on this 

ground (2 Cor. 8 : 24 ; and see that chapter throughout). But 

all exhibiting charities, whether given with pub- 
lic announcement in great congregations or with 
a blazoning forth in the newspapers, are, when 
bestowed thus publicly in order to be seen and ap- 
plauded of men, contrary to the spirit of these 
precepts ; of such givers we may say, as our 
Lord did, They receive here their full reward. 

5-1.3. Second example. Prayer. 

The significance of this passage is interpreted 
by an acquaintance with the prayer customs of 
the East formerly in existence among the Jews 
and still among the Mohammedans. The former 
had eighteen stated prayers which the pious 
were expected to repeat every day ; a summary 
of these was composed for those who had not 
the time or the memory to repeat the fuller 
forms. Special prayer was given by individual 
rabbis to their disciples for special occasions. 
Ejaculations, prayers, and blessings were added, 
to be repeated on various occasions. Certain set 
times for prayer were established, which the 
pious observed, leaving their work and repeating 
their prayer wherever they chanced to be. Long 
pauses were added before and after these prayers, 
so that it was_ not unf requent to see a Jewish 
Rabbi in a praying position for three hours to- 
gether. In their liturgies they repeated over 
and over again the same petition in slightly dif- 
ferent phraseology ; and it was a proverb with 
them, "Every one that multiplies prayer is 
heard." The same practices still exist among 
the Mohammedans. The rules for daily and es- 
pecial prayer are prescribed with a most minute 
detail. Five daily canonical prayers are pre- 
scribed ; they must be uttered at the appointed 
time, wherever the Mussulman may chance to 
be, whether in the mosque, the market-place, or 
the house ; each prayer must be repeated a pre- 
scribed number of times and in a prescribed pos- 
ture ; any failure in the slightest particular ruins 
the whole, and the prayer must be repeated again 
from the beginning. Notwithstanding Christ's 
precepts, the same ritualism was introduced into 
the Christian church. In the fourth century- 
seven times of devotion were required to be ob- 



100 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VI. 



6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, 
and, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father 
which is in secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in se- 
cret,' shall reward thee openly. 

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions," as 



the heathen do : for they think that they shall be heard 
for v their much speaking. 

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them : for your Fa- 
ther knoweth" what things ye have need of, before 
ye ask him. 



t Ps. 34 : 15 ; Isa. 65 : 24 u Ecc. 5 : 2. 



1 Kings 18 : 26, etc w Luke 12 : 30 ; John 16 : 23-27. 



served at least by all the clergy and members of 
religious bodies ; prayers were appointed to be 
said and Psalms to be repeated for each, hour ; 
and to such an extent was the ritualism carried, 
that if the entire service were observed, it would 
have required nearly the whole twenty-four 
hours. These canonical hours of prayer are still 
maintained by the religious devotees of the Ro- 
man Catholic church. 

5. Standing. This was not in itself a sign of 
ostentation ; it was a common attitude of prayer 
(i Sam. i : 26 ; i Kings 8 : 22). It is not the standing, 
but standing in public places, which Christ con- 
demns ; and this not as an act, but as an indica- 
tion of an ostentatious spirit. Synagogues. 
As with the Roman Catholic the cathedral, and 
with the Moslem the mosque, so with the Jews 
the synagogue stood open for purposes of prayer. 

6. Closet. Sometimes in the women's apart- 
ments, sometimes over the porch or on a part of 
the roof, is a room in most Oriental houses, from 
which all are excluded except the women, their 
domestics, and the master of the house. This 
was, perhaps, the inner chamber referred to in 
1 Kings 20 : 30 and 22 : 25, and the closet referred 
to here and in Matt. 24 : 26 ; Luke 12 : 3. 

The true significance of these verses is lost 
if they are made a rule for the regulation of 
times or places of prayer. The whole gist of 
the caution is in the words, "that they may be 
seen of men." If one makes an ostentation of 
his secret prayer, he violates the spirit of this 
law ; if he prays in public places, but in secrecy 
of heart and feeling, he obeys its spirit. Cer- 
tainly Christ does not condemn public prayer, 
nor even all private prayer in public places ; at 
least his own disciples did not so understand 
him, for they went to the Temple to pray (Acts 
3 : i). The habit of employing the church as a 
place of private prayer, universal in the Roman 
Catholic church, and borrowed by that church 
from the East, probably grew out of the fact 
that the worshippers had not, and many of 
them still have not, any privacy at home. To 
such the church is the closet. Compare Luke 
18 : 10 for an instance in which it was a closet 
to the publican and a public place to the Phar- 
isee. There may even be cases in which it be- 
comes a duty to pray publicly to be seen of 
men ; in Daniel's case retirement would have 
been cowardice (Dan. 6 : 10). On the other hand, 
there is no virtue in a closet. "Isaac's closet 
was a field (Gen. 24:63); David's closet was his 



bed-chamber (ps. 4:4; 77 : e) ; our Lord's closet was 
a mountain (Matt. 14 : 23) ; Peter's closet was a 
housetop" (Acts 10: 9). It is as possible to be 
ostentatious of private prayer as it is to be 
humble and indifferent to men in prayer in pub- 
lie places. The commentators, especially the 
ancient ones, have given to this deduction its 
true significance. "If thou shouldest enter into 
thy closet, and having shut the door, shouldest 
do it for display, the doors will do thee no 
good." — (Chrysostom.) "Enter into the secret 
chamber of thine own mind, wherever thou art, 
shut the door thereof against the world, and 
commune with God." — {Ambrose.) " We may 
enter the chamber of our hearts even in a 
crowd." — ( Wordsworth.) " Every man can build 
a chapel in his heart." — {Jeremy Taylor.) Christ 
condemns not the place, the attitude, or the 
act, but the spirit which chooses the place, de- 
termines the attitude, and inspires the act. 

7, 8. Use not vain repetitions, etc. The 
meaning of this prohibition is interpreted to us 
by the Eastern custom of repetition in prayer, 
on which see note above. Not much praying 

is Condemned (sec Luke ll : 5-S ; IS : 1-7 ; 21 : 36; Rom. 12 : 12; 

EpheB. 6:18; i Thess. 5 : n) ; nor even every kind of 
repetition (Matt. 26 : 44) ; but repeating for the saJce 
of repetition, of which the devotions of the 
prophets of Baal afford an illustration (1 KingB 
is ; 26). This warning does not affect the use of 
a liturgy in public prayers, nor even in private 
devotion, but the repeating of prayers, whether 
written and learned, or fallen into as a mere routine, 
without real consideration of its meaning, which 
latter habits many parents, with the best inten- 
tions, unconsciously form in their children. It 
condemns all mere saying of prayers. The prac- 
tice in the Roman Catholic church of repeating 
pater noslers, i. e., the Lord's prayer, and meas- 
uring the merit of the observance by the num- 
ber of times the prayer is repeated, is in direct 
contravention of the precept here given. Thus 
the very prayer which our Lord gave, not as a 
form, but as a prohibition to all formalism in 
prayer, has been made a means of perpetuating 
the very evil which he required his disciples to 
shun, a striking illustration of the truth of the 
precept, "the letter killeth." Contrast with 
Christ's prohibition the direction of Liguori, a 
Roman Catholic writer of acknowledged stand- 
ing in that church: "We must always act like 
beggars with God, always saying, Lord, assist 
me ; Lord, assist me ; keep your hand upon me ; 



Oh. VI.] 



MATTHEW. 



101 



9 After this manner therefore pray ye : Our x Fa- 
ther? which art in z heaven, Hallowed be a thy name. 



10 Thy kingdom" come. Thy will be done in earth, c 
as it is in heaven. 



x Luke 11 : 2, etc y Rom. 8 : 15 z Ps. 115:3 a Ps. Ill : 9 ; 139 : 20 b ch. 16 : 28 j Rev. 11 : 15 c Ps. 103 : 20, 21. 



give me perseverance; give me your love." 
Your Father knoweth what things ye 
have need of before ye ask him. And 

better than we know, and answers more fully 
than we ask or even think (Ephes. 3 : 20), and 
teaches us both how to pray and what to pray 
for (Rom. 8:26). Why then pray? Because God 
wills it (Ezek. 36 : 37) ; it forms in us the wish, 
though it does not inform Him of the need ; it 
prepares us to receive what he is willing to 
grant ; it strengthens us, because it brings us 
into communion with Him who is our strength ; 
it is due to Him as well as needed by ourselves. 
" Not to inform Him, but to exercise ourselves 
in communion with Him." — (Ghrysostom.) "It 
is one thing to inform the ignorant and another 
thing to beseech the omniscient." — (Jerome.) 
Nor is this all. Though he knows what things 
we have need of, he has made our preferring 
of requests the condition of his promise to sup- 
ply OUr need (Ezek. 36:37; Matt. 18:19; 21:22; Luke 
11 : 13; John 14 : 13, 14; Heb. 4 : 16, etc.) ; and he VOUChsateS 

blessings in answer to persistent prayer which 
are not given to the prayerless, nor even to the 
lukewarm petitioner (Matt. 17 : 21 ; Luke is ; 1-8). If we 
ask why, the sufficient answer is, Even so, 
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. 
But the recognition of this truth that our 
Father knoweth what things we have need of, 
and not merely what things we desire, should 
always underlie our praying : if it does, it will 
make "Thy will, not mine, be done," to be the 
accompaniment of every prayer. 

9-13. The Lord's Prater. This prayer 
is given in a slightly different form by Luke 
11 : 1-4, who says that Christ gave it to his dis- 
ciples in answer to their request, "Teach us 
to pray." The improbability that Christ should 
have twice taught the same form of prayer to 
his disciples, or that they, having once received 
from him a form of prayer, should have re- 
quested one again, has led some to the opinion 
that the prayer was really given at that time, 
but was inserted by Matthew here because 
cognate to the subject of the sermon. But this 
opinion is, at best, only a surmise, and the ques- 
tion is not very important. We have the prayer ; 
when it was given, and whether once or twice, 
is a matter of secondary moment. The opinion 
that it is composed largely of forms then al- 
ready existing in Jewish formulae is said by Al- 
ford to rest on "very slender proof." That 
there are parallels to some petitions in the rab- 
binical writings is certain ; but it is also certain 
that no one can be sure how much of the seem- 



ingly Christian precepts of the Talmud, no part 
of which was reduced to writing until the 2d 
century after Christ, was in fact taken from 
the instructions of Christ. The literature upon 
this prayer would of itself make a library. For 
eighteen centuries the Christian church has been 
studying it. To attempt to condense into a few 
paragraphs the fruits of tnis study would be 
idle ; the result would be unsatisfactory. I shall 
simply attempt to give the meaning of the pe- 
titions of which the prayer is composed, leav- 
ing the reader to deduce his own spiritual con- 
clusions, or to look for them in some of the 
sermons and homilies that have been written on 
this prayer of prayers. 

9. After this manner. Does Christ pre- 
scribe this as a set form of prayer for public or 
private use, or both, to take the place of the 
forms of prayer in vogue then among the Jews, 
and now among the Mohammedans, or does he 
merely indicate the spirit and manner in which 
we should approach God '? In favor of the first 
opinion are — first, The language of this verse, 
which io literally Thus therefore pray ye, and that 
of Luke, which is yet more definite, "When ye 
pray say;' 1 '' second, The fact that the early 
fathers all treated it as not only a pattern or 
model of prayer, but also as a form to be used in 
the words in which Christ prescribed it ; their 
opinions are collated in Bingham's Antiquities, 
book 13, chap. 7. In favor of the latter opinion 
are — first, That it is reported in different forms 
by Matthew and Luke, and if the Holy Spirit had 
intended to give a form, that form would have 
been preserved unimpaired by the Evangelists 
in both reports ; second, That there is no indi- 
cation that it was ever used as a form by Christ 
himself, or by his Apostles subsequent to his 
ascension ; it first appears as part of a ritual in 

the third Century, (see Tholuck on the Lord's Prayer) ; 

third, Christ here offers this prayer in illus- 
tration and enforcement of the doctrine that 
our prayers are not to be vain repetitions ; and 
the doctrine that he substituted one form for an- 
other, and made its use obligatory on his followers, 
violates the spirit of his teaching here and else- 
where, which is, not indeed against all religious 
forms, but strongly against all formalism in re- 
ligion (compare John 4 : 23, 24). I need not say that 
I hold to the latter view ; though in that 
view there is nothing opposed to the practice 
of employing the Lord's Prayer in formal ser- 
vice either in the family, the Sabbath school, or 
the church, provided it is not imposed on the wor- 
shipper as a law, but is simply employed as a ve- 



102 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VI 



hide for the expression of his real desires. 

Our Father. Observe the significance of 
the word our. "How can we look round upon 
the people whom we habitually feel to be sepa- 
rated from us, those of an opposite faction, or 
whom we have reason to despise, or who have 
made themselves vile and are helping to make 
others vile, and then teach ourselves to think 
that in the very highest exercise of our lives they 
are associated with us, that when we pray we are 
praying for them and with them, that if we do 
not carry their sins to the throne of God's grace 
we cannot carry our own?" — (Condensed from 
Maurice on the Lord's Prayer.) So Chrysostom, 
referring to the use of the plural number 

throughout (see verses 11, 12 and 13), deduces the 

doctrine that, whether we pray alone or in com- 
mon with others, we are always to pray for our 
brethren. To the same effect Augustine : "The 
Prayer is fraternal ; he does not say ' My Father,' 
but 'Our Father.'" The Fatherhood of God 
does not here appear for the first time. Some 
traces of it are to be found in the O. T. (isa. 1 : 2; 
63 : 16 ; Mai. i : e). The simile was not unknown in 
heathen religions. Among the North American 
Indians the Great Spirit was sometimes known 
as the "Father and Mother of Life." In the 
hymns of the Vedas, of the Hindoos, he is ad- 
dressed sometimes as "Father." In the Zend- 
Avesta, the Persian sacred writings, is an appeal 
to him "who was from the beginning the Father 
of the pure creatures." In Plato's Timseus is a 
reference to "the supreme God, Father and 
Maker of all things." And Plutarch both em- 
bodies and interprets the symbol in the declara- 
tion, "Since, therefore, the world is neither like 
a piece of potter's work nor joiner's work, but 
there is a great share of life and divinity in it, 
which God himself communicated to and mixed 
with matter, God may properly be called Father 
of the world." But in all heathen use of this 
symbol, so far as I have been able to discover, 
the idea involved is not parental love, or paren- 
tal care, but simply production and begetting. 
God is represented as the Father, not particu- 
larly of humanity but of all life, because all 
comes forth from him. The same belief under- 
laid even the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, who 
personified the producing powers of nature, one 
in the person of a male, the other in the person 
of a female. But nowhere in literature, outside 
of the Bible, and that which has been inspired by 
the Bible, is to be found a recognition of the 
truth that the relation of a father to his child, 
and the government of a father over his child, 
that is, the government of a personal, providing, 
sympathizing love, is the best symbol for the in- 
terpretation of the relations between God and 
man. Even the early fathers would not allow 
any but communicants to use this passage, be- 



cause " no one that was not baptized could pre- 
sume to say ' Our Father which art in heaven.' " 
—(Theodoret, quoted in Bingham's Antiquities, 
10 : 5.) And some relic of this idea lingers in 
modern theology. Tet that there is a peculiar 
sense in which those are the children of God who 
have been adopted into the household of faith 
through Jesus Christ, is implied in such passages 
as Rom. 8 : 14 ; Gal. 3 : 26 ; 1 John 3 : 1. For 
practical deductions from this truth see Gal. 4:6; 
Ephes. 5 : 1 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 4 ; 1 John 3 : 10 ; 5:1. 
Which art in heaven. The abode of 
the blessed, which is generally represented in 
the Bible as in the heavens. The Bible, while it 
recognizes and teaches the omnipresence of God, 
teaches also, and nowhere more clearly than 
here, his proper personality. We are not, how- 
ever, to conclude from this or other parallel pas- 
sages (e. g., Ps. 115 : 3 ; Isa. 57 : 15 ; 66 : l) that God has, 

in any proper sense of the term, a local habita- 
tion ; on the contrary, while it sometimes pic- 
tures him to our thought as in the heavens, in 
order to give definiteness to our conception, it 
also declares that he dwells in the hearts of the 

Contrite and humble (isa. 57 : 15; compare John 14 : 20, 23), 

and that no place is without his presence (Psalm 
139 : 7-10). Contrast with the spirit of this opening 
address of our Lord's Prayer the modern phil- 
osophy which declares that "God is the highest 
dream of which the human soul is capable," of 
that he is " an Inscrutable Power," whose "na- 
ture transcends intuition and is beyond imagina- 
tion," and whose mode of being may " transcend 
Intelligence and Will." Let any one who wishes 
to contrast modern philosophy and the religion of 
Jesus essay a prayer to " The Inscrutable Power, ' ' 
or "The Infinite," or " The Ultimate Cause," or 
the "Unconditional," the common appellations 
which rationalism employs. 

Hallowed be thy name. At first it 
might seem this should be a commandment ad- 
dressed to us rather than a prayer addressed by 
us. In truth, however, the whole prayer is an 
amplification of this. God's name is hallowed, 
honored, lifted up for worship and adoration, 
just in the measure in which his kingdom comes, 
his will is done, his providential care and his for- 
giving kindness is manifested among men. The 
highest appeal we can make to him is for his 
own name's sake, for his great mercy's sake, 
or for Jesus' sake, which is, in fact, the same 

thing (Psalm 6:4; 25:11; 31:3,16; 44:26). To SUp- 

pose that we are required to begin every prayer 
with an ascription of praise to God is entirely to 
miss the meaning. But underlying every true 
prayer is the deep wish, born of a supreme and 
filial love for God, that in all that he does for us, 
and enables us to do, his name may be hallowed. 
We come into the true spirit of prayer only as, 
in all our praying, his name is in our thought 



Oh. VI.] 



MATTHEW. 



103 



ii Give us this day our d daily bread : 
12 And forgive us our debts, e as we forgive our 
debtors. 



13 And lead us not into f temptation, but deliver use 
from evil : For thine b is the kingdom, and the power, 
and the glory, forever. Amen. 



d Prov. 30 : 8 ; Isa. 33 : 16 e ch. 18 : 21-35 ; Luke 7 ; 40-18 f ch. 26 : 41 ; Lnke 22 : 40, 46 g John 17 : 15 h Rev. 5 : 12, 13. 



above every name, and we have the desire to see 
it everywhere so recognized. 

10. Thy kingdom come, (see on Matt. 3 : 2.) 
Here the kingdom of God means all that the 
words in all their applications involve ; the per- 
fect obedience and allegiance of all created 
heings to the will and word of God. Thy will 
be done — respecting us, in God's providential 
dealings (Luke 22 : 42 ; Acts 21 : 14); by us, in our daily 
life (John 6 : 38 ; 17 : 18 ; Ephes. 6:6.); in us, by the con- 
formity of our character to the divine image 

(John 17 : 23 ; Rom. 12 : 2 ; Col. 4:12; 1 Thess. 4:3). Ob- 
Serve that this is much more than a mere sub- 
mission to the will of God. It is not "Give us 
such and such things, nevertheless thy will be 
done." This petition stands first in the prayer 
as it should stand first in our hearts ; the ex- 
pression of the pre-eminent desire of our souls 
that God's will, not our own, may be accom- 
plished, and that ours may be made subject to it. 
In heaven. Not among the heavenly bodies, 
though the perfect conformity of the stars to the 
divine law may serve as an illustration of that 
perfect obedience for which we are to look and 
pray, but in the spiritual heavens. "Not by 
blind agents, hut by intelligent, spiritual crea- 
tures ; by wills which might have fallen but 
which stood in holy, cheerful obedience." — 
{Maurice.') 

11. Our daily bread. There is some diffi- 
culty in translating the Greek word rendered in 
our version daily. The better opinion appears to 
be that it signifies not daily but necessary for our 
sustenance. It is, then, a prayer simply for suffi- 
cient bread to satisfy our real wants, and receives 
an interpretation from Paul's exhortation, "hav- 
ing food and raiment, let us be therewith con- 
tent" (i Tim. 6:8). The word translated bread 
(aqtog) is said to stand generally for food, and 
by Mr. Barnes to denote everything necessary to 
sustain life. Yet literally it signifies only bread, 
and the fact that this word is used, and not one 
of the more general ones (JniHuu or tqoqii]) 
translated respectively meat and food, is an indi- 
cation of the simplicity which should characterize 
our earthly desires, and our petitions for their 
satisfaction. The ancient commentators con- 
sidered that the term bread, as here used, signi- 
fies food for the soul as well as food for the 
body, and some of them even referred it directly 
to the body of Christ, and from it framed an ar- 
gument for the daily celebration of the Lord's 
Supper. But the word bread (uorov) is never 
used in the N. T. to signify anything but mate- 



rial food, except in cases where the context 
clearly indicates a purely metaphorical use, as in 
John, ch. 6, where Christ employs it emblemati- 
cally, but distinguishes spiritual from material 
food by such phrases as "bread from heaven," 
or "true bread," or "bread of life." We are to 
take the words of Scripture in the sense in which 
the speaker or writer would have expected his 
audience or readers to have taken them, except 
where he himself gives a different interpretation, 
or peculiar circumstances compel the belief that 
he was willing to be misunderstood for the time ; 
and it is very clear from John 6 : 34 (compare John 

4 : 15, and Mark 8 : 15, 16), that the disciples WOUld 

not have understood this passage in a spiritual 
sense. This petition is not, then, a prayer for a 
supply of all our wants ; so to interpret it is to 
lose its significance. It is our warrant for carry- 
ing to God our physical wants. The lowest and 
most animal of them all, hunger, is taken be- 
cause that includes by necessary implication all 
the rest ; and the limits on our right of petition, 
so to speak, are given in the fact that we are 
taught to pray for just so much bread as is neces- 
sary day by day for our sustenance, leaving all 
the future in God's hands. He who can be con- 
tent with to-day's loaf, and trust the morrow 
wholly to God, has learned the spirit of this 
prayer as interpreted by verses 25-34: below. 

12. And forgive us. The Greek word 
translated forgive is the same translated left in 
Matt. 4 : 20, 22 ; sent away in ch. 13 : 36 ; Mark 
4 : 36 ; put away in 1 Cor. 7 : 11, 12. I refer to 
these passages to give the English reader an idea 
of the primary meaning of the word, which is to 
send away, dismiss, set free. The Bible idea of 
forgiveness is not merely a remission of penalty 
or an absence of vengeance, but an absolute put- 
ting away of the sins, so that he who is wronged 
remembers them no more against the wrong- 
doer, and he who has done the wrong carries 
them no more in his memory as a burden. It is 
interpreted by such passages as Isa. 1 : 18 ; 43 : 
25 ; Micah 7 : 19 ; John 1 : 29 ; and by the annual 
ceremony among the ancient Jews of binding the 
sins of the nation upon the scape-goat, and send- 
ing them away into the wilderness (Lev. 16 : 21, 22). 
But these symbols are not satisfied by a mere 
literal forgetting of the transgression ; on the 
contrary, it is clear from Matt. 5 : 44 that we are 
often to remember the wrong we have suffered 
that we may repay it by love, and from Paul's 
experience (1 Tim. 1 : 12-17), the wrong we have 
done that we may augment our love to Him who 



104 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. VI. 



has forgiven us. As. Not merely inasmuch as, 
or because, but literally as, i. e., in the manner in 
which we forgive. As elsewhere the Bible makes 
the divine forgiveness a type and model for us 
in the forgiveness of personal wrong, so here we 
are required to make our forgiveness interpret 
to God the forgiveness which we ask from him 

(compare Ephea. 4:32; Col. 3: 13). If any Christian is 

perplexed by the question — How does Christ's 
law of forgiveness require that I should feel 
toward him who has wronged me ? he may an- 
swer it by another question— How do I wish 
Christ to feel toward me? Debts — debtors. 
Sins are compared to debts because they repre- 
sent all that duty and love which we owe to him 
but have never by our past lives paid, all that in 
which we have come short of the glory of God. 
Not merely our positive sins need forgiveness, 
but our failures as children and servants of God 
to fulfill the mission in life he lays upon us. So 
the phrase "our debtors" includes not only 
those who owe us confession and reparation for 
positive wrong-doing, but also all those who are 
in a more literal sense our debtors, all who in the 
common walks of life have come short of their 
duty to us. As we treat, not merely our ene- 
mies, but our children, our servants, our em- 
ployees, all who are under obligations of service 
to us, so we may expect God to treat us ; as we 
are willing he should exact of us, we may exact 
of them. Observe, the prayer assumes that we 
have forgiven and do habitually forgive or re- 
lease. If we understand this as a mere rule of 
prayer we miss its meaning ; the whole relates 
to the spirit rather than to the form of prayer, 
and this petition is interpreted by ch. 5 : 23, 24. 

13. Lead us not into temptation. More 
strictly and properly, trial ; i. e., experiences 
that try the character. The term is general, 
but it includes those experiences that • in- 
volve temptation to sin. Though God never 
tempts any man, that is, never solicits him to 
evil (James i : 13), yet he orders our life and de- 
cides what shall be the measure of its trials 

and temptations (l Cor. 10: 13 ; compare Job 1 : 12; 2: 6). 

Directly contrary to the spirit of this prayer is 
the temper which courts trial for the sake of 
displaying to others or to one's self the strength 
of resistance ; the temper which twice led Peter 
into presumption and consequent danger (Matt. 
14 : 28-30 ; 26 : 69-73). In entire accordance with it is 
the spirit which, when God's providence does 
bring us into temptation, boldly faces it, and, 
by faith in him, vanquishes it, and even rejoices 

in the conflict and the Victory (compare James 1 : 2 ; 

4 : 7). Observe the spirit with which Christ met 
the tempter in the wilderness, and observe that 
it is after that experience of temptation that he 
instructs his disciples to include this petition 
in their prayer. To lead into temptation is not 



equivalent to bringing under the power of temp- 
tation ; God never does that. Deliver us from 
the evil one. Not merely evil, either in the 
moral or the physical sense ; but the devil, the 
author of all temptation. Compare with this 
petition Christ's prayer for us (John n : 15). For 
thine is the kingdom, etc. There is consid- 
erable doubt whether this doxology was not 
added subsequently, when the prayer came into 
use as a liturgy. This appears to be the opinion 
of the best scholars, among whom may be men- 
tioned Tischendorf, Wordsworth, Alford, Bloom- 
field, Lange. On the other hand, Chrysostom 
comments on it without any apparent doubt of 
its authenticity. For a statement of the argu- 
ments for and against it, see note by Dr. Schaff 
in Lange on Matthew, Addenda, 567. It grounds 
the entire petition on the royalty of God, being 
an appeal of a subject to his Lord and King - T 
on the power of God, being an appeal of weak- 
ness to One mighty and able to help (compare 8:2); 
and on the honor and good name of God (compare 
Exod. 32 : 11, 12), our victory over the evil one be- 
ing not to OUr glory, but tO God'S (compare 5:16f 
IPet. 2: 12; Ephes. 2: 8-10). 

The commentators have undertaken to ana- 
lyze the Lord's Prayer, to divide it into sec- 
tions, to trace in it a parallel to the Ten Com- 
mandments on the one hand, and to the beatitudes 
on the other, and even to find in its arrangement 
an evidence of the doctrine of the Trinity, all 
of which the reader will find at some length in 
Lange's Commentary. To me this all seems 
quite foreign to a prayer whose beauty is its 
perfect simplicity. The best analysis is the 
quaint one which Matthew Henry affords :' 
"This prayer, as indeed every prayer, is a let- 
ter from earth to heaven. Here is the inscrip- 
tion, Our Father ; the place, in heaven ; the con- 
tents, in the several errands ; the close, for thine 
is the kingdom; the seal, Amen; and, if you will, 
the date too, this clay." More important to study 
than any analysis of this prayer is the spirit 
which breathes through it all, and which it is 
its chief object to inculcate. It approaches God 
not with fear and awe, but with childlike confi- 
dence ; it finds him not hard to be entreated ; 
its petitions are framed in the simplest possible 
forms ; it is humble, without being groveling ; 
submissive, without being abject ; earnest, with- 
out being clamorous. We have in Christ's his- 
tory two records of prayer offered by him (Matt. 
26 : 39, 42, 44 and John, ch. 17). The same spirit breathes 
in his example as in his precept. The true sig- 
nificance of both is interpreted by the contrast 
which is afforded in the prayers of the prophets 
of Baal (1 Kings is : 26). Alas ! that so much of 
public prayer should conform more to the ex- 
ample of the heathen prophets than to that of 
Jesus of Nazareth. 



Oh. VI.] 



MATTHEW. 



105 



14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your 
heavenly Father will also forgive you. 

15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither 
will your Father forgive your trespasses.' 

16 Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, 
of a sad countenance : for they disfigure their faces, 
that they may appear unto men> to fast. Verily I say 
unto you, They have their reward. 

17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, 
and wash thy face ; 

18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto 
thy Father which is in secret : and thy Father, which 
seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon k earth, 



where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
break through and steal : 

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in ! heaven, 
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where 
thieves do not break through nor steal : 

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart 
be also. 

22 The light of the body is the eye : m if therefore 
thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of 
light : 

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be 
full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee 
be darkness, how great is that darkness ! 

24 No man can serve two masters :° for either he 



i Eph. 4 : 31 ; Jas. 2 : 13 j Isa. 



: 3, 5. . . .k Prov. 23 : 4 ; Luke 18 : 24, 25 ; Heb. 13 : 5. . . .1 Isa. 33 : 6 ; Luke 12 : 33, 34 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 19. ... 
m Luke 11 : 34, 36 11 Luke 16 : 13. 



14, 15. Compare 18 : 23-35, and 5 : 7, and ref- 
erences there. "He that cannot forgive others 
breaks the bridge over which he must pass him- 
self ; for every man has need to be forgiven." — 
(Lord Herbert.) 

16-18. Third example. Fasting. For a gen- 
eral discussion of the question whether fasting 
is appropriate under the Christian dispensation, 
and for some information respecting Jewish 
fasts, see Matt. 9 : 14, 15, and notes. 

16. Disfigure their faces. By leaving them 
unwashed and by covering them with ashes (Es- 
ther 4:3; Job 2 : 8 ; Lam. 3 : 16 ; Dan. 9:3; Jonah 3:6). This 

use of asbes, which, with sackcloth, had been 
at first a symbol of mourning, and was its nat- 
ural expression in an age and among a people 
who gave expression to feeling by symbolic acts 
rather than by words, had been perverted by 
the Pharisees, and they employed the symbols 
of mourning without the real sorrow which 
alone gave the symbol significance. They for- 
bade all washing or anointing of the body dur- 
ing fasting ; and it was a rabbinical proverb, 
"Whoever makes his face black in this world, 
God shall make his face to shine in the world 
to come." The spirit of Christ's precept forbids 
not merely disfiguring of the person, but all 
simulating of feeling of sorrow, and impliedly 
of any feeling, for the purpose of appearing unto 
men to possess it. Compare, on the spirit of true 
fasting, Isaiah 58 : 3-7. 

19-34. Further contrast op Pharisaism 
and the Christian religion. 

From a rebuke of the ostentation of Pharisa- 
ism Christ passes to a rebuke of its spirit of 
greed. The two vices generally accompany each 

Other (Matt. 23 : 14; compare Luke 16 : 14). Through this 

discourse Christ does not merely nor chiefly re- 
buke the wrong, but points out a more excellent 
way ; so here, from a mere condemnation of 
greed (19-23), he proceeds to set forth the prin- 
ciple upon which and the spirit in which his dis- 
ciples are to solve the problem presented by the 
twofold demands which this life makes on the 
body and the higher life makes on the soul 
(24-34). For a paraphrase of the passage and a 



consideration of its general significance, see note 
below. 

19. Treasure not for yourselves treas- 
ures. All laying in store is not forbidden ; but 
hoarding ; i. e. , the accumulation of wealth as 
our treasure in which our heart is. Compare, for 
an illustration of the spirit forbidden, Luke 
12 : 16-21. Where moth and rust. The first 
reason for not laying up our treasures upon earth. 
All such treasures are transient ; they are liable 
to be taken from us, and we are certain to be 

taken from them (Prov. 23 : 5 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 7, 8 ; compare also 

Ecclcs. 5 : 10 ; 6:2). One of the most common forms 
of riches in the East was garments, which were 

liable tO moth (josh. 7: 21 ; 2 Kings 5: 22; compare James 

5 : 2, 3). Rust. The Greek word would be more 
literally rendered " eating '," and it is so translated 
in 1 Cor. 8:4. It signifies here the whole corro- 
sive influence of time, " which eats into and con- 
sumes the fairest and the best-protected posses- 
sions." 

20. But treasure up for yourselves treas- 
ures in heaven. Compare Luke 12 : 33. How? 
By charity administered as unto Christ (Matt. 25 : 40 ; 
1 Tim. 6 : 18, 19) ; by spiritual labors for others (James 
5 : 19, 20) ; by personal growth in grace (2 Peter 

1 : 6-ll). 

21-23. The second reason for not hoarding; 
its corrupting influence on the soul. Where 
your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also. The heart is, in Scripture, used for the 
seat and centre of man's life, especially the de- 
sires and aspirations, out of which are the issues 
of life (Prov. i ■. 23). If we amass our treasures on 
earth, our desires and aspirations, and so our 
life, will be of the earth earthy. 

22, 23. The light of the body is the eye. 
If thine eye be clear, thy whole body 
shall be full of light; but if thine eye be 
diseased, thy whole body shall be full of 
darkness. What the eye is to the body, the 
heart, not the intellect, is to the soul. If the 
heart be pure, we see God and heavenly things, 
and take hold on the truth, and are made right- 
eous (Matt. 5:8; Rom. 10 : 10) J if it be Corrupt, all is 

corrupt (Matt. 12:33, 35; 15:19), and the very power 



106 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VI. 



will hate the one, and love the other ; or else he will 
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot 
serve God and mammon. 

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought" for 
your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; 
nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not 
the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ? 



26 Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, 
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your 
heavenly Father*! feedeth them. Are ye not much bet- 
ter than they ? 

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one 
cubit unto his stature ? 

28 And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider 



o Gal. 1 : 10 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 10 ; Jas. 4:4 pi Cor. 7 : 32 J Phil. 4:6 q Job 38 : 41 ; Lule 12 : 24, etc. 



of moral and spiritual discernment is abated and 
finally destroyed ; for the soul which begins by 
practically disregarding spiritual truths, ends by 
losing the power of perceiving them (1 Cor. 2 : 14). 
If the light be darkness, etc. If that which 
is intended to be the light of the soul be dark- 
ened, in what total darkness will the whole soul 
be plunged? " When the pilot is drowned and 
the candle is put out, and the general is taken 
prisoner, what sort of hope will there be after 
that for those that are under command." — 
(Chrysostom.) See Luke 11 : 34-36, note. 

24. The connection appears to be this : Not 
only you must not make it your object to accu- 
mulate your treasures on earth ; you cannot have 
two objects and two treasures, one on the earth 
and one in heaven. Serve. Literally, be the 
slave of, belong to. Evidently one may serve 
two masters if one is subordinate to the other, as 
the slave serves both the overseer and the owner, 
or the soldier both the captain and the colonel. 
He who keeps the world always in subordination 
to the Lord obeys this precept ; he who attempts 
to belong to both contravenes it. Mammon. A 
word of Syriac origin, meaning riches. It has 
been said to be the name of an idol worshipped 
as the god of riches. But this assertion rests on 
slender authority and is probably incorrect. Ob- 
serve that in this passage Christ does not con- 
demn the possession of riches, but the serving of 
them ; and the poor and successful man may 
serve, while the rich man may master wealth. 
He that serves riches labors for them ; he who is 
the master of riches knows how to make them 
labor for him, and through him for others. 
"Job was rich, but he served not mammon, but 
possessed it and ruled over it, and was master, 
not slave. ' ' — ( Chrysostom. ) (see job 29 : 11-13). 

25. Therefore. The whole of the following 
verses to the end of the chapter are. a deduction 
from verse 24, and are to be interpreted accord- 
ingly. I say unto you. See on 5 : 18. Here 
this expression is the seal of a divine promise 
which underlies all that follows. Take no 
thought. The original Greek word signifies a 
division or distraction of mind. The command 
is literally, "be not divided in mind respecting 
your life." It thus follows logically from the 
prohibition of the preceding verse, against serv- 
ing God and mammon, and leads naturally to the 
conclusion of the whole, "Seek first the king- 



dom of God and his righteousness "(v. 33). See 
note at close of chapter. The word thought has 
the significance of anxiety in old English. Lord 
Bacon speaks of one who "died with thought 
and anguish." Compare, for similar use, 1 Sam. 
9:5. Is not the life, etc. First reason for 
not being anxious. Our anxiety is about matters 
of trivial importance. As the life is more than 
meat which serves it, and the body than raiment 
which clothes it, so the soul is more than either ; 
for both life and body exist only for the devel- 
opment of the soul. But our anxieties are not 
for the soul, but only about the outer things, the 
mere food and raiment. This appears to me to 
be the meaning, not, as most of the commenta- 
tors interpret it, God, who has given you life, 
will much more give you food. Compare Matt. 
10 : 28. 

26. Behold the fowls of the air. Second 
reason for not being anxious, viz. : our Father's 
care for us, as illustrated in his care of the birds. 
Compare with this Psalm 104, especially 10-12, 
21, 27, 28. It is very evident from our Lord's il- 
lustration that he does not forbid foresight and 
provision for the future. For though the birds 
neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, yet 
while winter storms linger afar off they foresee 
the evil, and by their flight into southern climes 
guard themselves against it ; and when spring 
comes, they provide beforehand for the little 
ones yet to come, the father foraging in the fields 
and the mother plucking from her own bosom 
the down to furnish for them a resting-place. 
Rightly considered, therefore, there is nothing 
in this verse inconsistent with wise forethought, 
nothing to conflict with the lesson from the ant 
drawn in Prov. 6 : 6-8. Chrysostom, and, fol- 
lowing him, Alford, notice that Christ does not 
say we must not sow, nor reap, but that we must 
not be distracted and anxious. The illustration 
is an argument from the less to the greater, anal- 
ogous to the argument in Luke 18 : 1-7, from 
the unjust judge to the just God. If the birds, 
incapable of sowing, reaping, storing, are cared 
for in the way God appoints to them, how much 
more will you be cared for in the way of your 
duty, to whom God gives the capacity of fore- 
thought and the means of providing for future ne- 
cessities. Much better. Rather of more value 
(ch.io:si). It is not that we are better, morally, than 
the birds, and so more deserving of a Father's 



Oh. VI.] 



MATTHEW. 



107 



the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, 
neither do they spin : 

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in 
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, 
which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, 
shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith ? 



31 Therefore take no thought/ saying, What shall 
we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal 
shall we be clothed ? 

32 (For alter all these things do the Gentiles seek :) 
for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need 
of all these things. 



r Ps. 37 : 3 ; 55 : 22 ; 1 Pet. 5 : 7. 



care, but of a higher order, to whom suffering is 
sharper and life larger and grander, and to whom, 
therefore, the divine care is more important, and 
for and in whom it will produce more important 
results. 

27. Which of you by thought can add 
to his age one cubit. A third reason for 
not being anxious; viz., the uselessness of anx- 
iety. A cubit is equivalent to about a foot and 
a half in length. It would be not a small but a 
very considerable addition to a man's height. 
The word here translated stature is rendered age 
in John 9 : 21, 23. This would better convey the 
meaning here. Measures of space are sometimes 
employed by a metaphor in estimates of life (see 
for example Psalm 39 : 5). The idea, then, here is that 
anxiety and care do nothing to lengthen out the 
duration of life ; and this is in truth the object 
of all our solicitude. 

28, 29. Consider the lilies of the field. 
This whole series of illustrations is an incidental 
enforcement of the truth that nature is full of 
unobserved lessons for us, an incidental appeal 
to us to study nature for the ascertainment of 
her moral and spiritual meaning (compare Job 12 : 7, 8). 
The lilies of the field. Several flowers have 
been suggested as answering to the lily of the 
field. Dr. Thompson's Land and Book describes 
one of these, the Huleh lily. "It is very large, 
and the three inner petals meet above and form 
a gorgeous canopy, such as art.never approached 
and king never sat under, even in his utmost 
glory. And when I met this incomparable flower, 
in all its loveliness, among the oak woods around 
the northern base of Tabor and on the hills of 
Nazareth, where our Lord spent his youth, I 
felt assured that it was this to which he re- 
ferred." It seems quite as likely that no special 
flower was intended, but that the language is 
general for wild flowers. These of the most 
brilliant hue — lilies, daisies, anemones, wild tu- 
lips and poppies — abound in the Holy Land. 
Solomon in all his glory, etc. Solomon 
represented to the Jewish mind the ideal of re- 
gal magnificence (see 1 Kings, ch. 10). In two respects 
this declaration is literally true ; first, because 
his glory was external, a glory put on, while that 
of the flower is its own, being developed from 
within ; second, because the beauty of the most 
perfect fabric is imperfect and shows itself rough 
and coarse under the microscope, while the 
beauty of the flower has no imperfection, but, on 



the contrary, discloses under the microscope 
glories unseen by the naked eye. These verses 
indicate a fourth reason for not being anxious and 
troubled about earthly needs. Our worry and anx- 
iety are for the most part not for the food and 
clothing which is necessary for our life and 
usefulness, but for the means to equal or sur- 
pass our neighbors in display ; and yet, with 
all our striving, the wild flowers of the field sur- 
pass us. 

30. The grass of the field * * * cast into 
the oven. Weeds and grass were and still are 
used in the East as fuel. Ovens were construct- 
ed in various ways : sometimes of earth ; some- 
times a pit, lined with cement, served the pur- 
pose ; sometimes baking was done simply on 
stones heated by fire previously kindled on them. 
The oven here mentioned was a large round pot 
of earthen or other materials, two or three feet 
high, narrow towards the top. This being first 
heated by a fire made within, the dough or paste 
was spread upon the sides to bake, thus forming 
their cakes. In all these cases the fuel was cast 
into the oven, and when the oven was sufficiently 
heated, was raked out again to make room for 
the bread, after the manner in vogue in the use 
of the old brick oven. The verse recurs to the 
underlying reason for not being anxious ; God 
who cares for birds and flowers much more cares 
for us his children. Oh ye of little faith. 
He cares even for the untrusting (2 Tim. 2 : 13). 

31-34. These verses sum up the conclusion 
of Christ's warning against greed and its con- 
comitant care. 

32. For after all these things do the 
Gentiles seek. An additional argument, in- 
terpolated by Christ in his summing up. If you 
are as anxious and concerned about food and 
raiment as the heathen, how are you any better 

Off than they (compare chap 5 : 46, 47) ? 

33. Seek ye first. Not in order of time 
merely, but in order of importance. Interpret 
this command by verse 24. The kingdom of 

God (see on Matt. 3 : »). RighteOUSneSS (see on 

Matt. 5 : 6). And all these things. All what 
things ? Not an accumulation of food and rai- 
ment ; piety is not a short road to wealth ; but 
all of those things of which your heavenly Father 
knows you have need ; i. e., enough day by day to 
supply daily need. The promise is interpreted 
by David's testimony (psalm 37 : 25), and by Paul's 
experience and assurance (Phil. 4 : n, 19). So in- 



108 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VI. 



33 But seek ye first" the kingdom of God, and his 
righteousness, and all these things shall be added' 
unto you. 



34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for 
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." 
Sufficient unto the day zs the evil thereof. 



a l.Tiin. 4:8....tLev. 25 : 20,21; 1 Kings 3 : 13; Pb. 37 : 25 ; Mark 10 : 30... .u Dcut. .33 : 25; Heb. 13:5, 6. 



terpreted, life proves it true ; those that give 
themselves wholly to God's service often live in 
poverty, but they rarely or never suffer for want 
of necessary food and raiment. 

34. Take therefore no thought for the 
morrow ; for the morrow shall take 
thought for the things of itself. That is, 
the future will bring not only its own trouble, 
but also with it the grace that is needed to bear 
it, or the guidance that is needed to escape it 



(Deut. 33 . 25 ; 1 Cor. 10 : 13 ; Heb. 13 : 6). Sufficient II lit O 

the day is the evil thereof. "Every day 
brings its own troubles, and to anticipate is but 
to double them." — (David Brown.) This verse 
indicates the line between the forethought that 
is a duty and the care that is a sin. Forethought 
considers a future possible ill only in so far as it 
is necessary to determine present duty. Care 
brings, by imagination, the possible evil from the 
future, and inflicts it on us here and now. 



NOTE ON CHRIST'S TEACHING RESPECTING CARE (vs. 19-34). 



The general significance of this passage may 
be indicated perhaps by a 

Paraphrase. — Do not make it your object to ac- 
cumulate treasures on the earth, because all 
such treasures are transitory, and the life which 
is devoted to accumulating them darkens and 
destroys the soul. Nor think to divide your 
energies, and to devote a part to God's service and 
a part to the accumulation of wealth. This you 
cannot do. You must choose your master, and 
serve him with single devotion. Having chosen 
God, do not allow your life to be distracted by 
the ambition for wealth, or by fears respecting 
the future. This is folly ; for your soul alone is 
worthy of your care. It is needless ; for your 
heavenly Father, who feeds the birds, will care 
for you. It is useless ; for with all your worry 
you cannot prolong your life. It is wasted 
energy ; for it is spent, in truth, not on satisfying 
the real necessities of the body, but on vieing in 
display with others, and the highest success 
leaves you at last inferior to the wild flowers of 
the field. It is unchristian ; for he who is guilty 
of it is in so far no better off than the heathen 
who know of no heavenly Father on whom they 
can cast their cares. God, your heavenly Father, 
knows what is necessary for you and will pro- 
vide it. You have only to do day by day your 
daily duty, making the sole object of your life 
to promote in your own heart and in the hearts 
of others, allegiance to him, and attending faith- 
fully to each day's cares and duties, sure that 
the present duty is all that God means you to 
perform, and that with to-morrow's problems 
will come grace and wisdom for their solution. 

A fair and reasonable interpretation of Christ's 
words does not forbid forethought or provision 
for the future, as is evident from, first, the gen- 
eral significance of the whole passage if read as 
it should be together, not dissected into separate 
and independent precepts ; second, from the 



very illustrations employed, particularly that of 
the birds (v. 26), who do exercise forethought, 
and from the express declaration that we have 
needs which God recognizes (v. 32), and for which 
as they arise we are to provide (v. 34) ; third, from 
the example of Christ himself, who appointed a 
treasurer of his little band of disciples, provided 
a bag with money to meet their simple wants, 
and carried provisions on their journeys (Matt. 
14:17; joini2:6; 13:29); fourth, from other pre- 
cepts and examples in the Bible (Gen. 41 : 33-36; 

Ephes. 4 : 28 ; 1 Tim. 5:8; and also compare Prov. 6 : 6 with 

ch. 22 : 3). It is clear, on the other hand, that it 
does forbid, as essentially unchristian, all mak- 
ing of acquisition and accumulation of wealth 
the object of life, and all attempt to divide the 
mind between two objects, one the promotion of 
the divine life in ourselves and others, the other 
the accumulation of wealth, or the vieing with 
others in external signs of earthly prosperity. 
This is alike forbidden by the general tenor of 
this passage, by the example of Christ, and by 

Other biblical precepts (compare especially Luke 12 : 16-21 ; 
Col. 3:2; Heb. 13 : 5, where conversation means " course of life " ; 

1 John 2 : 15). In brief, this passage offers a cure 
of care by forbidding its real cause, a divided 
heart and life, and by pointing to the true rem- 
edy, moderate desires and trust in God for their 
gratification. That the original verb translated 
"take no thought" bears the significance I have 
given it throughout these notes, is agreed to by 
all the commentators. "No thought," says Mr. 
Barnes, "means no anxiety." "Take no 
thought," says Alford, "does not express the 
sense, but gives rather an exaggeration of the 
command, and this makes it unreal and nugatory. 
* * * It is, Be not anxious, at sea tossed 
about between hope and fear." "Our Lord," 
says Wordsworth, " does not forbid provident 
forethought, but he forbids anxious, restless, 
distrustful solicitude about earthly things." 



Oh. VIL] 



MATTHEW. 



109 



CHAPTER VII. 

JUDGE y not. that ye be not judged. 
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be 
judged ; and with what measure ye mete, w it shall be 
measured to you again. 

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy 
brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in 
thine own eye ? 



4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull 
out the mote out of thine eye ; and, behold, a beam is 
in thine own eye ? 

3 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam" out of 
thine own eye ; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast 
out the mote out of thy brother's eye. 

6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither? 
cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample 
them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 



v Luke 6 : 37; Rom. 2 : 1 ; 1 Cor. 4 : 5 w Judges 1 : 7....X Gal. 6 : l....y Prov. 9 : 7, 8 ; 23 : 9. 



1-6. The censoriousness op Pharisaism re- 
buked. These verses continue the contrast be- 
tween the principles which must actuate Christ's 
disciples and those which do actuate the Pharisees. 
Censoriousness is the common accompaniment of 
a self-righteous spirit (Luke 7 : 39 ; is : 11), and against 
that spirit these verses are directed, except the 
last, which is a qualification of the general pre- 
cept of the first verse. 

1. Judge not. See, on the meaning of this 
verse, note below. 

2. For with what judgment ye judge, 
ye shall be judged. Firstly, by ourselves, be- 
cause by judging others we condemn ourselves, 
being guilty of the same sins, not necessarily in 
form, but in spirit (Rom. 2 : 1) ; secondly, by our 
fellow-men, for men habitually judge leniently 
those that exercise lenient judgments, and se- 
verely those that judge severely (Luke 6 : 37, 38) ; and 
rightly, because he who customarily suspects the 
motives of others thereby testifies to the ground 
of his suspicion, which is the consciousness of 
evil motives in himself ; and thirdly, by God, 
who will at the last judge us severely if we have 
so judged our fellow-men (james 2 : 13). And 
with what measure, etc. In Mark 4 : 24 the 
same aphorism is employed and the same princi- 
ple is applied to those that impart truth to others ; 
and in Luke 6 : 38 to all beneficence. It may 
here be equivalent to "the standard by which you 
measure others, they will use in measuring you ;" 
but it is more probable that it is the amplification 
of a general principle, that Luke's report is fuller, 
and that it is as if Christ had said, As you judge 
you shall be judged, in accordance with the gen- 
eral and universal principle that as you give to 
others they will give to you, charity for charity, 
severity for severity, generosity for generosity, 
niggardliness for niggardliness. 

3. And why beholdest thou, seeingit from 
without, — the mote, — the lesser fault, — in thy 
brother's eye, and considerest not, — by 
weighing well from within, — the beam, — the 
larger fault, in thyself ? Our own faults ought 
to be to us beams ; our neighbor's faults should 
be but motes. In our common estimates the re- 
verse is the case ; we magnify the faults of others 
and palliate our own. So runs the old proverb : 
Men carry their own sins on their back and those 
of their neighbors before. But besides this, the 



spirit which rejoiceth in iniquity is always a 
beam, generally a more flagrant violation of the 
spirit of love (1 Cor. 13 : 5) than the sin over which 
it rejoices and which it condemns. 

4. Or how wilt thou say. The preceding 
verse asserts that the Christian spirit will lead 
us to consider more carefully our own faults 
than those of our neighbor ; this and the next 
asserts that we cannot cure our neighbor's faults 
except in a spirit of humility, because of our 
own. It is interpreted by Gal. 6:1. In the rab- 
binical books is this saying : "If any one says to 
another, 'Take out the mote from thine eye,' he 
will be answered, ' Take out the beam from thine 
own.' " If this was really a proverb in the time 
of Christ, he gives it a new significance and di- 
rection. From a mere expression of the spirit 
which resents reproof, it becomes a direction to 
him who would administer reproof. Victory 
over evil in ourselves can alone give the clearness 
of moral vision necessary to perceive, and the 
sympathy necessary to eradicate, evils from our 
neighbors. 

5. Hypocrite. Every man who pretends to 
zeal in reform, but is zealous only to reform his 
neighbor, but indifferent respecting himself, is 
but a pretender — a hypocrite, though sometimes 
a self-deceived hypocrite. Shalt thou see 
clearly. He that rids himself of the spirit of 
censoriousness and seeks to discern the good and 
not the evil in his neighbor, is prepared to help 
him to get rid of the evil. It is not the spirit of 
criticism, but the spirit of charity, which is cura- 
tive. Before he had only beheld the mote ; now 
he sees to cast it out. " The beholding was vain 
and idle ; the seeing clearly is for a blessed end, 
viz. : (18 : 15) to gain thy brother." — (Alford.) 

Of Judging ode Fellow-men. — This passage 
has given rise to much difficulty from failing to 
note the proper meaning of the word judge. The 
Greek word (zpa(u)here translated judge signifies 
primarily to separate ; then to form a judicial 
sentence, because that involves a separation of 
the good from the evil, as illustrated by the par- 
ables in Matt. 13 : 30, 49 ; 25 : 32. It is frequently 
used in the N. T. in this strict sense to express a 
judicial and official decree, as in 1 Cor. 6 : 2, and in 
Acts 15 : 19, in which latter passage it is rendered 
by my sentence is. It is also frequently used 
metaphorically for a quasi judicial decision (see 



110 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. VII. 



illustrations below), and in one or two cases it is em- 
ployed to express a personal conclusion, but 
aliuays one that is irrevocably fixed. Of this use an 
illustration is afforded by 2 Cor. 5 :14: "We 
thus judge that if one died, for all, then were all 
dead," where not an opinion or probable conclu- 
sion, but a deliberate and settled conviction is 
expressed ; and another in Acts 20 : 16 : " Paul 
had determined to sail by Ephesus," where not a 
mere purpose, but a settled determination is indi- 
cated, one so unalterable that the subsequent en- 
treaties of his friends could not swerve him from 
it (Acts 21 : u). Our translators have then almost 
exactly preserved the meaning of the original 
word in this passage. It is not equivalent to 
condemn nor to condemnatory judgment on the 
one hand, nor does it, on the other, signify every 
mental opinion concerning others ; but such opin- 
ions as are judgments, i. e., in their nature judicial. 
Christ certainly does not prohibit all formations 
of opinions respecting our fellow-men ; this is 
not only necessary to be done, but directly com- 
manded both by Christ and his apostles (Matt. 

18 = 15-17; 1 Tim. 5:20; 2 Tim. 4 ; 2), and it is impliedly 

required in this very passage in verse 6. Nor is 
his prohibition of judging satisfied by interpret- 
ing it as a mere warning against harsh, unkind, 
and censorious condemnation of others. It in- 
cludes this, but both here and in the parallel pas- 
sages (Luke 6 : 37, where condemnation of others is also rebuked; 
Rom. 2:1; 14 : 4, 10, 13 j 1 Cor. 4 : 3, 5 ; James 4:12) much 

more is indicated than this. We get to the gist 
of the command here, as I am persuaded we 
6hall do generally in Christ's sayings, not by de- 
parting from, but by adhering to his exact 
words. All assuming of God's judgment-seat, all 
undertaking to reach any final and conclusive 
judgment concerning our fellow-men, is prohib- 
ited by the spirit and the words of this passage 
and its parallels in the New Testament. It pro- 
hibits absolutely all attempts by man to fix the 
eternal state of any soul, or to declare what it is 
or will be, and so all excommunication which in- 
volves an imprecation of an everlasting curse ; 
all imprecation of men in the mass, as by the 
anathemas of the Roman Catholic church and 
the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian creed ; 
all such discussions respecting the character and 
eternal destiny of individuals as often occur after 
the death especially of public men — and this 
whether conducted in public or private ; all for- 
mation of ineradicable prejudices or final and 
settled judgments against any, such as cannot be 
readily set aside by clearer evidence or by their 
repentance and reformation (compare 1 Cor. 5 : 4, 5, with 
2 Cor. 2 : 6, 8) ; and all judging of men's moral char- 
acter and status before God and their final con- 
dition by reason of their divergence from us in 
points of doctrine or of practice (Rom., ch. 14, through- 
out). But it does not forbid such tentative and 



partial judgments both of conduct and character 
as are formed in the spirit of love and meekness, 
as are accompanied in our own minds with the 
recognition of the truth that they are imperfect, 
and that all the data for a perfect judgment are 
not and cannot be before us, as are held subject 
to revision or reversal on adequate evidence or 
in case of repentance and reform, and as are 
necessary for our own guidance in determining 
what shall be our conduct toward or in respect 
to the persons in question. Such passages as 

I Cor. 16 : 22 ; 2 Pet., ch. 2 ; and Jude, v. 4, do not 
militate against this precept, which does not for- 
bid our judging of principles and practices, but 
of assuming to judge individuals ; nor does 
Christ's example in Matt., ch. 23, contradict his 
precept, because he knew what was in man, and 
could judge then as he will judge finally (John 

5 : 22, 27). 

6. This verse can scarcely be regarded as a 
qualification, but rather as an interpretation, of 
what precedes. If one is evidently past our in- 
fluence, whether violent as the dog or given over 
to sensuality as the swine, we may adjudge him 
to be so, and need not go on casting pearls before 
him (compare Prov. 9 : 7, 8). But observe that it was 
never the practice of the apostles to account any 
unworthy to receive the Gospel till by their own 
act they had rejected it, and so counted them- 
selves Unworthy (Acts 13 : 46; Titus 3: 10). Holy. The 

meat offered for sacrifice, a part of which was re- 
served for the priests (Lev. 2 : 3, etc), was regarded 
among the Jews as peculiarly sacred, as much as 
the bread and wine, when consecrated for the 
Eucharist, were regarded in the early church 
and still are in many of the modern churches. 
To give such meat to the dogs would be, to the 
Jewish mind, the extreme of profanation. No 
unclean person was permitted to eat of it (Lev. 

22 : 6, 10, 14, etc. ; compare Exod. 22 : 3l). DogS — Swine. 

The dog was never a pet or a favorite among the 
Jews. They lived and still live in Oriental cities 
in packs, half wild, generally without masters or 
owners, and barely tolerated as scavengers. Both 
dogs and swine are common symbols in the Bible 
of vileness and uncleanness (Lev. n : 7 ; 56 : 10, 11 ; Prov. 

II : 22 ; Matt. 15 : 27 ; Phil. 3:2; Rev. 22 : 15). Tur n again 

and rend you. Proclaiming the truth to those 
that are determined against it only provokes 
their anger. See, for interpretation, Matt. 10 : 23. 

Ch. 7 : 7-27. FOURTH GENERAL DIVISION.— How to 

ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

The connection in this part of Christ's dis- 
course is not as close as in the preceding por- 
tion. Neither must it be forgotten that East- 
ern teaching was more aphoristic than ours. 
Nevertheless, there is a connection which would 
be recognized more readily were it not for 
our division of the sermon into chapters and 



Ch. VII.] 



MATTHEW. 



Ill 



7 Ask, and it shall be given you ; z seek, and ye shall 
find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you ; 

8 For every one that asketh" receiveth ; and he that 
seeketh b findeth ; and to him that knocketh it shall be 
opened. 

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask 
bread, will he give him a stone ? 

io Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 



ii If ye then, being evil, know how to give good 

fifts unto your children, how much more shall your 
'ather which is in heaven give good things to them 
that ask him ? 

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them : for d this 
is the law and the prophets. 

13 Enter ye in e at the strait gate : for wide is the gate, 



: ; Prov. 2 : 4, 5 . a Ps. 
c Luke 



16 : 23, 24; 1 John 3 : 22 ; 5 : 14 : 15.... b Prov. 8 : 17 ; Jer. 29 : 12, 13 

Rom. 13 : 8-10 : Gal. 5 : 14. . . .e Luke 13 : 24. 



verses. The two conditions of entering into the 
kingdom are faith (7-11) and obedience (13-27). 
Character is the gift of God and is to be sought by 
prayer from him (7-11). Nevertheless, not every 
praying receives, but that which accompanies a 
life of non-conformity to the world (13-14) and of 
practical righteousness, from which many false 
prophets will seek to turn men away. They are 
to be known by their fruits, for the product of 
moral teaching is its best test (15-23). And though 
the false religion will find many to applaud it 
now, he whose religion consists in practical obe- 
dience to Christ's precepts, and he alone, has 
built upon a rock (24-27). It is noticeable that in 
this portion of the sermon, which gives the con- 
dition of entering into his kingdom, neither any 
public ceremony nor any formal creed is pre- 
scribed. 

7-11. First condition. The prayer of 
faith. 

7. The connection is thus given by Chrysostom : 
" For inasmuch as he had enjoined things great 
and marvelous, and had commanded men to be 
superior to all their passions, and had led them 
up to Heaven itself, and had enjoined them to 
strive after the resemblance, not of angels and 
archangels, but of the very Lord of all (ch. 5 : 48), 
* * * * that they might not say these things are 
grievous and intolerable * * * * he adds also 
the pinnacle of all facility, devising us no or- 
dinary relief to our toils, the assistance derived 
from persevering prayers." This is not all, how- 
ever. He puts prayer first, the striving after- 
wards, so signifying that the first step toward 
the kingdom of God is seeking of God. Com- 
pare with this command John 1 : 10 ; Rom. 6 : 
23 ; and in the O. T. Isa. 55 : 1. Observe that 
even here where character is represented as be- 
stowed on the soul by the Spirit of God, we 
are represented not as mere passive receivers of 
an irresistible grace, but as agents asking, seek- 
ing, knocking. For the kind of seeking, see 
Prov. 2 : 3, 4 ; 18 : 17 ; Jer. 29 : 13 ; Luke 13 : 
24, and note there. Contrast with this teaching, 
where man is represented as seeking and knock- 
ing, other passages where the Lord is represented 
as the one seeking and we as the found (Luke 15 : 
8, 10 ; Rev. 3 : 20). And compare ch. 5 : 6, where the 
mental state is described as hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, of which asking, seeking, 



knocking, is the expression or utterance, the 
activity to which it leads. 

8. For every one that asketh. The ar- 
gument here is from the greater to the less and 
from the general to the specific. In the whole 
realm of life energetic faithful endeavor is gen- 
erally crowned with success. Even the Pharisee 
who seeks the praise of men by his public alms, 
prayers and fasting, has his reward. How much 
more shall he that asks, seeks, knocks, receive 
in the kingdom of God's grace. 

9-10. Or what man is there of you. 
Second reason for faith in prayer ; analogy from 
the earthly to the heavenly parent. Observe 
that the N. T. almost never, and the O. T. but 
rarely, employs nature as a symbol to represent 
God. He is represented to us by images drawn 
from the higher and better experiences of human 
nature ; or, in theological language, the N. T. 
symbolism is anthropomorphic. Modern philoso- 
phy argues from the apparent inflexibility of 
nature that God does not hear prayer ; Christ 
answers from the mobility of the soul, as il- 
lustrated by the common parental experience, 
that God does hear and answer. The root of 
modern unbelief lies just here, in an assumption 
that God is like nature. But the Bible does not 
say, As mountains stand immovable, as thunder- 
bolts strike irresistible, as the sea, as the river, 
as the earth, but "As a father pitieth his chil- 
dren," " as one whom his mother comforteth," 
"as a shepherd feedeth his sheep." Observe, 
too, that there is here implied, not merely a 
promise to give some answer to the prayer, but to 
give the thing asked for or something better. God 
may do more for us than we ask or think ; but 
never less. The argument here, as in the preced- 
ing verse, is from the less to the greater. This is 
brought out clearly in the verse following. Com- 
pare with this passage Luke 11 : 12, where is 
added, " If he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a 
scorpion?" 

11. Being' evil. "He said this not to con- 
demn our race as bad ; but in contrast to his own 
goodness he calls parental tenderness evil, so 
great is the excess of his love to man."— Chry- 
sostom. Yet Stier well observes that the remark 
is a strong indirect support of the doctrine of 
original sin. Even in our highest holiest rela- 
tions there is evil ; selfishness is mi n gled with 



112 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VII. 



and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and 
many there be which go in thereat : 

14 Because strait is the gate : and narrow is the 
way, which leadeth unto lile : and few f there be that 
find it. 



15 Beware of false prophets,? which come to you in 
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening h 
wolves. 

16 Ye shall know them by their" fruits. Do men 
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ? 



f ch. 20 ; 16 ; 25 : 1-12 ; Rom. 9 : 27, 



.g Deut. 13 ; 1-3 ; Jer. 23 : 13-16 : 1 John 4:1 h Acts 20 : 29-31 1 ch. 12 : 33. 



our most unselfish love. Good things. Luke 
(11 : 13) says Holy Spirit. But the greater in- 
cludes the less. "He that spared not his own 
Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us 

all things." (Rom. 8 : 32.) 

12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye 
would that men, etc. From the general theme 
of his discourse, which is here a statement of the 
conditions of entering the kingdom of heaven, 
Christ turns aside to enforce a high standard of 
human duty by his consideration of the goodness 
of God to us. Therefore connects the golden 
rule directly with the preceding teaching, respect- 
ing divine compassion. The connection is the same 
in substance in ch. 5 : 48 ; and ch. 6 : 14, 15. Be- 
cause God is so ready to answer our prayers, we 
ought to show like sympathy and love to our fel- 
low-men. This precept is found not alone in the 
teaching of Christ. In a negative form the same 
rule of conduct is found in the rabbinical writ- 
ings : " Thou shalt not do to thy neighbor what 
is hateful to thyself." Do ye even so to them. 
Observe that it is not said do that to them, 
but so to them, i. e. in like manner. The rule 
does not require us to do the things which they 
ask, but to act toward them in the manner and 
spirit in which we should wish them to act 
toward us. Observe, too, that this rule works 
in two ways ; while directly it requires us to act 
toward others as we should wish them to act 
toward us, in spirit and by implication it requires 
us to wish from others no more than we should be 
willing to render to them if our positions were 
reversed. This is the law and the proph- 
ets (Lev. 19 : 18; Isaiah 1 : 17; Rom. 13 : 10). That is, the 

object of the law and the prophets is to produce 
that state of heart and life of which the golden 
rule is the natural expression in daily conduct. 

13-20. The second condition. Obedience. 
Verses 13, 14, state simply that obedience in- 
volves a non-conformity to and a separation from 
the world ; 15-20 warns the disciples against 
false teachers who will attempt to substitute 
some other conditions than faith and obedience, 
and so, under one pretence or another, attempt 

to Widen the gate (Ephes. 6 : 6, and reference below) ; and 

verses 21-27 emphasize the doctrine that there is 
no true religion which does not show its spirit 
by its actual obedience to the precepts of the 

Master (John 14 : 21 ; 15 : 14; and reference below). 

13, 14. The strait gate, i. e., a narrow 
and difficult gate. The word is not the same as 
straight. The idea of narrowness is preserved 



in our use of the word straits to indicate a pass- 
age either in the mountains or from one sea to 
another, as "Straits of Gibraltar" ; the idea of 
difficulty is illustrated by its use in the verse, "I 
am in a strait betwixt two." Observe, the gate 
is put before the way. It is not, therefore, the 
gate out of life at the end of the pilgrimage, but 
the gate into Christian life, as Bunyan represents 
it in Pilgrim's Progress (compare Psalm lis : 19, 20). 
The entrance into Christian life is narrow, i. e. 
requires a true spiritual separation from the 
world (Ephes. 5 : n), and the life is beset with diffi- 
culties which must be counted on before entering 
(Luke 9 : 57, 58, and notes). As used here, the gate is 
not equivalent to the door in John 10 : 2. The 
strait gate is the spirit of real and hearty alle- 
giance to Jesus Christ, by which we enter in to 
him. It is the patient continuance in well-doing 
described in Romans 2 : 7 as the condition of en- 
trance into eternal life ; it was too strait for 
the rich young man described in Matt. 19 : 16-22 ; 
through it the apostles entered into the way 
(ch. 19 : 27, and see ch. 4 : 20, 22 ; ch. 9 : 9) ; Christ has entered 
into glory by the same door and way (pwi. 2 : 9, ioj 
Heb. 12 : 2). It is not because the gate is difficult 
to find, but because we are unwilling to find and 
to enter in through this gate, that there are few 
who enter. It is wide enough to admit any soul, 
but too narrow to admit any sin. Observe, too, 
that not only the gate is strait, but the subse- 
quent way narrow. Like a mountain path cut in 
the rock, a little deviation is attended with dan- 
gerous consequences — deviation not from circum- 
scribed rules but from the spirit of Christ's pre- 
cepts. There is possible significance in the fact 
that the word here translated narrow, is the 
participle of the verb elsewhere translated trou- 
bled (e.g., 2 Cor. 4:8; 7:5). The way is narrow be- 
cause it is a way hemmed in by persecution, es- 
pecially to the early Christians, from which perse- 
cution they were constantly tempted to escape 
by going out of the narrow path. The tempta- 
tion was the strait gate to Christ ; the trial-hour 
of Gethsemane and Calvary a part of the narrow 
way. Contrast with this teaching Ps. 119 : 45 ; 
Isa. 35 : 8. Though the way is narrow, it is a 
highway in which mere ignorance cannot go 
astray ; though compressed, it is to him whose 
heart is fully set to walk in it the way of life and 
of liberty. 

15-20. Warnings against false teachehs. 
The Hebrew word translated prophet is derived 
from a root signifying to boil over, and embodies 



Oh. VII.] 



MATTHEW. 



113 



17 Even so every good tree' bringeth forth good 
fruit : but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither 
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 

ig Every 8 tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is 
hewn down, and cast into the fire. 

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. 

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 1 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven : but he that 
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, 
have we not prophesied™ in thy name ? and in thy 
name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done 
many wonderful works ? 



23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew 
you : depart from me," ye that work iniquity. 

24 Therefore" whosoever heareth these sayings of 
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise? 
man, which built his house upon a rock : 

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell 
not : for it was founded upon a rock.i 

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish' 
man, which built his house upon the sand : 

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, 8 and beat upon that house ; and it fell: 
and great was' the fall of it. 



j Luke 6 :43,45....k ch. 3 : 10 ; John 15: 2, 6....1 ch. i 
22 : 11, etc. ; Jer. 23 : 13, etc. ; Acts 19 : 13-15 ; 1 Cor. 
119 : 99, 130. ...q Ps. 92 : 13-15. ...r 1 Sain. 2 : 30 ; Je 



> : 11, 12; Isa. 48 : 1, 2; Luke 6 : 46 ; 13 : 25; Rom. 2 : 13 m Num. 24:4; 1 Kings 

13 : 2 n ch. 25 : 41 ; Ps. 5 : 5; Rev. 22 : 15 o Luke 6 : 47, etc p Ps. Ill : 10; 

.8:9 s 1 Cor. 3 : 13 t Heo. 10 : 26, 27. 



the idea of a fountain bursting forth from the 
heart of man into which God has poured it. It 
thus signifies not merely a foreteller, nor, on the 
other hand, every religious teacher, but such as 
teach under divine inspiration. A false prophet 
is not merely an erroneous teacher, but a lying 
teacher, strictly speaking one pretending to an 
inspiration which he does not possess ; seconda- 
rily, any teacher deliberately deceiving others ; it 
does not properly signify one deceiving himself, 
and so unconsciously deceiving others (see ch. u ■. 24; 

2 Tim. 2 : 17,18; 2 Pet. 2 : 1 ; Uohn4:l-3). The Caution ap- 
plies directly to such in our time as claim to pos- 
sess communication with the spirit-world, or to be 
invested with direct and infallible authority to 
speak for God ; indirectly to all who put on a 
semblance of piety for selfish purposes, and so 
get a position of honor as teacher in the church ; 
or who, without even that pretence, maintain the 
position for worldly purposes. Its application, 
as is made clear in the next verse, is not so much 
to open and avowed teachers of error, men who 
deny the fundamental principles of the Gospel, as 
to those who pretend to maintain but really under- 
mine and destroy them. So Chrysostom: "By false 
prophets I think he shadows out not the heretics, 
but them that are of a corrupt life yet wear a 
mask of virtue, whom the majority are wont to call 
by the name of impostors." Sheep's cloth, 
ing. The metaphor is of a wolf putting on the 
sheep's skin ; the thing signified is a selfish and 
designing man putting on the garb of meekness, 
gentleness and piety (2 Cor. iiiis, 15; 2 Tim. 3:5). 
Ye shall know them. Literally fully, per- 
fectly know them. The infallible test of all re- 
ligious teaching is its practical result in the lives 
of those that receive it. The answer to modern 
eulogists of Buddhism and Confucianism is India 
and China ; the answer to the papal claim of in- 
fallibility is Spain and Italy ; the answer to the 
eulogists of "pure reason" and a Bible over- 
thrown is Paris during the Revolution and Paris 
during the Commune. New England is the best 
refutation of those that sneer at Puritanism ; 
and Christendom, contrasted with the heathen 
world, is a short but conclusive reply to all ad- 



vocates of a universal and eclectic religion. 
Here the test is applied only to religious teach- 
ing ; but elsewhere the same test is applied to 
the estimate of individual character (John 15 : 6, 8). 
21-23. The fruits of true keligion. 
Practical obedience in daily life. He that doeth 
the will. That will embraces trust in Christ 
as our strength (John 6 : 29), love to our fellow-men 
(John 15 : 12), personal purity of character (1 Thess. 
4 : 3), and the cultivation of the graces that are 

the fruit Of the Spirit (l Thess. 5 : 18 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 15 ; 4 : 2, 

etc.). It is by God's Spirit alone that we are en- 
abled to do his Will (Heb. 13 : 21 : Rev. 7 : 17). Devils. 

See note on demoniacal possession (ch. 8 : 28-34). 
Then will I profess. Greek, publicly prof ess. 

The disclosure of the false character of the fruit- 
less professor of religion will be before men and 
angels (Matt. 25:32). Depart from me. God 
now abides even with the ungodly, that he may 
lead them to repentance (Rom. 2 : 4). He will then 
separate them from him for ever (2 Thess. 2 : 9). 

Compare with this entire passage 1 Cor. 13 : 
1-3, and observe that in the only passage where 
Christ pictorially describes the judgment-scene, 
the judgment is portrayed as dependent upon 
the course of daily life (Matt. 25 : zi-ii) ; and that 
the sentence, as recorded in Rev. 22 : 11, is a 
simple fixing, eternally and irreversibly, of the 
character formed here. 

24-27. Conclusion of the discourse. The 
test of true religion. The symbol which Christ 
employs here, would possess a significance for 
his hearers which it has not for us. In the 
East the peasants' huts are often unsubstantial 
structures, built of mud or sun-burnt brick, and 
sometimes washed away by a single furious rain- 
storm. Their mountain streams, too, are of a 
peculiar character. These water-courses, called 
wadies, are in the summer perfectly dry, in the 
rainy season they are swollen streams. The 
shepherd builds his hut by one of these water- 
courses, which often in the summer weather 
affords the only herbage which is not burnt up 
by the sun. If the house is built high up on the 
rock it is safe ; if down on the sandy soil, though 
there is no water at the time, the treacherous 



114 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VIII. 



28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these 
sayings, the people were astonished" at his doctrine : 

29 For he taught them as one having authority, and 
not as the scribes. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

HEN he was come down from the mountain, 
great multitudes followed him. 



w 



2 And, behold, there came a leper' and worshipped 
him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me 
clean. 

3 And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, 
saying, I will ; be thou clean. And immediately his 
leprosy was cleansed. 

4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell™ no man ; 
but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer 



u Jer. 23 : 29 ; Mark 6:2 v Mark 1 : 40, etc. ; Luke 5 : 12, etc w ch. 9 : 30 ; Mark 5 : 43. 



foundation gives away with the first freshet ; 
and these often come with almost no note of 
warning, and as a result of rains further up the 
stream. A friend of the writer, journeying 
through Palestine, pitched his tent, one fair 
night, in one of these toadies, and was before 
morning awakened by the sound of water, from 
which he and his party had barely time to escape 
with the loss of clothing, books and instruments. 
So the trial of the last great day will come, with- 
out warning (Matt. 24 : 36-39, 42-44), and overwhelm- 
ing those whose exterior was fair, but the foun- 
dation of whose life was insecure. As the 
builder would know, or easily might know, the 
danger of building on the sand, and yet build 
there for the sake of ease and transient conven- 
ience, so many, who confess that it is not safe to 
build on any other foundation than a practical 
obedience to Jesus Christ, yet do build other- 
wise, and trust to a vague hope to escape the 
day of trial when it comes. 

The building on the rock is building on Christ 
Jesus. " The Rock, as signifying him who spoke 
this, is of too frequent reference in Scripture for 

US to Overlook it here (2 Sam. 22 : 2, 47 ; 23 s 3 ; Ps. 28 : 1 ; 
31 : 2 j Iisa. 26:4; 32; 2; 44: 8; 1 Cor. 10:4, etc.)." — CAlford. ) 

Tet the contrast is not between those who build 
on him and those who lay other foundations, but 
between those who build on him by mere intel- 
lectual belief and external profession, and those 
who build by practical obedience to his precepts. 
Compare ch. 21 : 28-32. See for a similar meta- 
phor of the judgment-day, Isaiah 28 : 15-18. 

This close gives a solemn significance to the 
whole discourse, which indicates the super- 
structure of character to be reared, while this 
metaphor indicates the foundation on which 
alone it can be built (i cor. 3 : n). No building of 
kindness and good-will towards others, and of 
purity, and of seeming simplicity, complies with 
the Sermon on the Mount, unless the foundation 
is laid in faith in Christ, and the building is that 
of a real and hearty obedience to him. 

28, 29. Ch. 8:1. Effect of Christ's 
preaching. Doctrine, i. e., teaching. Not 
only what he taught, but the method and spirit 
of his teaching. As one having authority. 
Not only because, as Chrysostom, "He did not 
say what he said on the authority of others, 
quoting Moses or the prophets, but everywhere 
alleging himself to be the One who had the 



power ;" but also because his appeal was not to 
any external authority but to the moral con- 
sciousness of his hearers, to the law of God writ- 
ten in their own hearts, and because he spoke 
out of a perfect and personal assurance of the 
truth of every utterance ; for he was the truth. 
In this sense every religious teacher should imi- 
tate the example of him who is the great 
preacher. He will speak with authority just in 
so far as the truth is apart of his own being, not 
merely an external dogma intellectually appre- 
hended, and as he appeals to the dormant con- 
sciousness of moral truth, which is in the heart 
and conscience of every man. 

Ch. 8:1. Great multitudes followed 
him. His preaching not only singularly and 
powerfully affected his hearers, but it attracted 
hearers to him. During this early period of his 
ministry he was thronged by multitudes, not 
only curious to see or desirous to receive the 
benefit of his miracles, but also fascinated by the 
moral and spiritual power of his teaching. 



Ch. 8 : 2-4.— Curb op the leper. — Leprosy a type 

OF SIN, INSIDIOUS, DEADLY, HEREDITARY, OFTEN CON- 
TAGIOUS.— THE SPIRIT OF TRUE PRAYER : IF THOU WILT 
THOU CANST. — CHRIST TOUCHES THE LEPER; CHRIST 
IS THE TOUCH OF God's HAND ON A SINFUL WORLD. — 

Christ's cleansing ; perfect, immediate, cleanses 
from the foulest and the most ineradicable dis- 
eases (1 John 1 : 9). — The duty of the cleansed; 
a public acknowledgment of his purification, 
and a public return to the church. 

2-4. This incident — the healing of the leper — 
also recorded in Mark 1 : 40-45 ; Luke 5 : 12-15, 
occurred during Christ's first missionary tour 
through Galilee, as described in Mark 1 : 21-45. 
Its apparent connection with the Sermon on the 
Mount is due to the modern division of the N. T. 
into chapters. Verse 1 of this chapter properly 
belongs with the preceding chapter, and the 
words "and behold " mark a transition from the 
preceding narrative. If Christ were on a tour of 
healing, and the leper had heard of the cures 
Christ had wrought, his appeal for help would 
not be extraordinary ; but it is incredible that 
such faith as he manifested should have been 
awakened by a sermon which he could not pos- 
sibly have heard. Nor is it probable that he 
would have been found in the midst of the 
multitude mentioned in verse 1; nor, if the 



Oh. VIII] 



MATTHEW. 



115 



cure had been performed in their hearing, would 
the caution of verse 4 be likely to have been 
given. These considerations lead most harmon- 
ists to prefer the order indicated in Mark to that 
which seems to be implied by Matthew. The 
cure took place in a city (Luke 5 . 12), apparently 
not Capernaum (Mark 1 : 38-40). 

2„ There came a leper. Luke says "full 
of leprosy ; " an indication that it was an aggra- 
vated form of the disease from which he suffered. 
In coming to Christ, in the city, for cure, the 
leper violated the letter of the ancient law (Lev. 
13 : 46), but not its spirit. See on verse 3, below. 

In the absence of accurate medical knowl- 
edge the term leprosy was used in ancient times 
to designate diseases whose natures were radi- 
cally different, but whose symptoms were some- 
what analogous. In its worst forms, leprosy 
(elephantiasis Gra>corum) is the most terrible of 
all diseases. From a commencement slight in 
appearance, with but little pain or inconven- 
ience, it goes on in its strong but sluggish course, 
generally in defiance of medical skill, till it re- 
duces the patient to a mutilated cripple, with 
dulled or obliterated senses. This disease as- 
sumes several forms, the most common of which 
is known as the tuberculated elephantiasis. It 
generally first shows itself by inflamed patches 
in the skin, on the face, ears, or hands, of a dull 
red or purplish hue, from half an inch to two 
inches in diameter. These soon change to a 
brownish or bronze color, with a metallic or oily 
lustre, and a clearly defined edge ; and in this 
state they very often remain for weeks or 
months. By degrees the discolored surface be- 
comes hard, and rises here and there into tuber- 
cles, at first reddish, but afterward either 
bronzed or white. The scarf-skin often scales 
off. After another period of weeks, months, or 
even years, many of the tubercles subside, and 
leave a kind of cicatrix thinner than the sur- 
rounding skin. The tubercles which do not sub- 
side, or which break out again, may vary from 
the size of a pea to that of a pigeon's egg, and, 
after continuing, it may be, for years, they ulcer- 
ate, discharging a whitish matter. The ulcers 
often eat into the muscle till they expose the 
bones ; should there be any hair on the tuber- 
cles it either falls off or turns white, and the 
hair of the head and eyebrows mostly disappears. 
When the disease is fully formed, the distorted 
face, and the livid, encrusted, and ulcerated tu- 
bercles, the deformed, sightless and uncovered 
eyes, the hoarse whispering voice, the foetid 
breath and cutaneous excretion, the contorted 
joints, which are often buried in or absolutely 
dislocated by tubercles, the livid patches on 
those parts of the body not yet tuberculous, all 
form a picture which is not exceeded in the hor- 
ror of its features by any other malady. The 



disease for the most part creeps on with irresis- 
tible progress until it attacks some vital organ 
and occasions death. 

Whether leprosy is contagious or not has 
greatly perplexed both the divines and physi- 
cians. The cases of Naaman and Gehazi 1. 2 Kings 
5 : 1, and 27, with eh. 8 : 4) indicate very clearly that some 
forms of the disorder were not so regarded. It 
is also asserted by Trench that the leper was 
allowed a place, though apart from the rest of 
the "worshippers, in the synagogue, and in later 
times in Christian churches. On the other hand 
leprosy is universally regarded as a contagious 
disease in the East, where it is chiefly prevalent. 
"No healthy person would touch them, eat with 
them, or use any of their clothes or utensils, and 
with good reason." (Thompson's Land and Book, 
2 : 517. ) And it is only upon the theory of con- 
tagion that it is possible to account for the Mo- 
saic precepts and provisions referred to below. 
The fact appears to be, that of the several dis- 
eases designated in the Bible as leprosy, the 
w T orst form (tubercular leprosy' is contagious, 
but the milder (squamous leprosy ) is not; and 
that the provisions contained in Lev. ch. 13 were 
for the purpose of determining officially whether 
the person suspected of having the leprosy really 
had the contagious or only the milder form of 
the disease. 

In its worst form leprosy was universally re- 
garded by the Jews as a divine punishment ; and 
the disease was several times inflicted by God in 
judgment for flagrant transgressions (Numb. 12 : 10; 

2 Kings 5 : 27 ; 15 : 5 ; 2 Chron. 26 : 19). The leper Was ex- 
iled from the haunts of men, bore about with 
him the emblems of death, and wherever he went 
cried, as a warning of his coming, "Unclean, 

Unclean ' ' (Lev. 13 : 45 ; compare Numh. 12:12; Ezek. 24 : 17) ; 

his disease was regarded by universal consent as 
hopeless of cure ; and this opinion, so far as re- 
gards its worse forms, is confirmed by modern 
science. The same opinions and sentiments re- 
specting it reappear at a later date, as in Europe 
during the middle ages, when the leper was 
clothed in a shroud, and had mass for the dead 
read over him ; and at the present day, not only 
in Palestine but also in Persia, China, Japan, and 
indeed throughout the East where the disease is 
well known. Lepers associated together in com- 
munities of their own as they still do (2 Kings 7:3; 
Luke 17 : 12), and the leper-houses which now exist 
in the vicinity of Jerusalem, Damascus, Nablus, 
and Ramleh probably originated at a very early 
period. The Mosaic law provided for the official 
determination of the question whether a person 
suspected of being afflicted by leprosy was really 
subject to it or not, and whether the leprosy was 
of the more dangerous forms or no. These provi- 
sions are recorded in Lev. ch. 13. If the leprosy 
were the milder form, affecting the skin only, or 



116 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. VIII. 



if it covered the whole body with a white erup- 
tion (verses 12, 13), a sign that it was not the conta- 
gious form of the disease, but what is known as 
the lepra vulgaris, the patient was to be pro- 
nounced clean and discharged. 

The whole character of this disease made it a 
type of sin; it was a '■'■living death," appeared in- 
sidiously, loas incurable except by divine grace, and 
separated its victim from the people of God. " The 
Jews called it ' the finger of God, ' and emphati- 
cally 'the stroke.' It attacked, they said, first a 
man's house, and then, if he refused to turn, his 
clothing ; and lastly, should he persist in sin, 
himself." — (Trench.) "The same emblems were 
used in his misery as those of mourning for the 
dead ; the same means of cleansing as for un- 
cleanness through connection with the dead, and 
which were never used except on these two occa- 
sions. Compare Numb. 19 : 6, 13, 18, with Lev. 14 : 
4-7. All this exclusion and mournful separation 
imported the perpetual exclusion of the abom- 
inable and polluted from the true city of God, 
as declared in Rev. 21 : 27."— (Alford.) 

Worshipped. No great stress can be laid 
upon this word, or the word "Lord," as indica- 
ting the divinity of Jesus Christ. The Greek 
word (nqoay.vriia), translated worshipped, is a 
general one, expressive of the homage paid by 
an inferior to a superior. "According to Herod- 
otus, the ancient Oriental, and especially Per- 
sian mode of salutation was, between persons of 
equal rank, to kiss each other on the lips ; when 
the difference of rank was slight, they kissed 
each other on the cheek ; when one was much 
inferior, he fell upon his knees and touched his 
forehead to the ground, or prostrated himself, 
kissing his hand at the same time towards his 
superior. This latter mode Greek writers ex- 
press by (rtQooy.vvita) proskuneo." — (Robinson's 
Lexicon. ) This word is uniformly translated, in 
the N. T., worship. The act of the leper is more 
fully described by Mark 1 : 40, as "beseeching 
him and kneeling down to him." Similar hom- 
age was paid by Lot to the angels (Gen. w : l) ; 
Joseph's brethren to Joseph (ch. 42:6); and by 
Joseph to his father (ch. 48 : 12). And in the 
Septuagint, the Greek version of the O. T., the 
same Greek word (nQoaxvvlui) is used. Compare 
Matt. 20 : 20, and Rev. 3:9. On the other 
hand, the same word is used in the N. T. to 
express the highest worship of God, as in 
John 4 : 20-24, and Rev. 7 : 11 ; 19 : 10, etc. It 
should also be noted that the term Lord (xvqiog) 
is not used exclusively as an appellation of the 
Deity. It is employed as a common form of ad- 
dress to a superior, answers to our "sir," and is 
so occasionally translated (Matt. 13 : 27 ; 21 : so ; 27 : 63) ; 
it is addressed to the apostles in one important 
instance, and received by them without rebuke 
(Acts 16:30); and it is rendered "master" and 



"owner " (Matt. 6 : 24; Luke 19 : 33) ; and if translated 
lord is spelt with a small I in those passages 
where the translators regard it as not involving 
any idea of divine homage (Matt. 24 : 45-50 : 25 : is, 19). 
The same English word " lord " is employed in 
England to this day as a title of nobility. But 
though the fact that the leper paid this homage 
to Christ does not indicate that he conceived him 
to be possessed of a divine character, the fact 
that Christ in this and other instances received 
the homage without question, indicates that he 
assumed at least a super-human character. Com- 
pare his instructions to his disciples in Matt. 
23 : 8-10, and Peter's reception of similar hom- 
age when offered to him in Acts 10 : 25, 26. 

If thou wilt. Contrast Mark 9 : 22. The 
leper does not doubt Christ's power, he does 
not dictate to his will. "He did not say, 'If 
thou request it of God,' nor 'If thou pray,' 
nor 'Lord, cleanse me,' but leaves all to him, 
and makes his recovery depend on him, and tes- 
tifies that all the authority is his." — (Chrysos- 
tom.) Observe that the prayer is not for a spirit- 
ual benefit, but for a temporal blessing, which 
Christ may refuse to impart (2Cor. 12:8, 9), and 
which must always be asked for subject to the 
higher will of God. In this the leper's prayer is 
a model in spirit for us. Observe, too, that if 
the leper were mistaken in attributing to Christ 
the power to cleanse from leprosy, it was Christ's 
place to correct the error, and to attribute the 
power to God, as the apostles did in a somewhat 
similar case (Acts 3 : 12). On the contrary, he con- 
firms it with his "I will.'" Contrast with this 
assumption of power to heal, Moses' prayer for 
the healing of Miriam (Numb. 12 : 13). It was a 
general belief among the Jews, taught by their 
rabbinical books, that one of the signs of the 
Messiah would be his power to cure leprosy. 

Clean. The curse of leprosy was not 
merely in the suffering it caused, but yet more 
in the odium it entailed, and in the fact that it 
made the Jew "unclean," i. e., an outcast, and 
classed with swine and dogs and all odious and 
abhorrent creatures. The leper's prayer is not 
therefore, Make me well, but, Make me clean, 
take away the shame and the moral pollution of 
this disease. 

3. Be thou clean. The diseases, as the 
devils, obey Christ. Touched him. Mark 
gives the reason, "moved with compassion;" 
the touch was a touch of pity, the more wonder- 
ful because not only a universal prejudice, but 
also the Levitical law forbade touching any un- 
clean thing (Lev. 5 : 3). Yet even in this act Christ 
exemplifies the truth that he had come to fulfill 
the law, though he seemed to violate it, and did 
violate its letter. For the object of the law was 
the preservation of purity ; but Christ did better 
than preserve himself from impurity ; by his 



Oh. VIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



11? 



the gift that Moses commanded, 1 for a testimony unto 
them. 



S And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, 
there came unto him a centurion/ beseeching him, 



x Lev. 14 : 3, etc. . . .y Luke 7 : 2, etc. 



touch he communicated purity to the impure. 
It is never wrong to come in contact with evil for the 
purpose of curing it, if we are strong in God to ac- 
complish our beneficent purpose. To touch the 
dead was forbidden, yet both Elijah and Elisha 

did SO (l Kings 17 : 21 ; 2 Kings 4 : 34), for the law of love 

is always superior to any mere ceremonial regu- 
lation. Immediately. Mark says, "As soon 
as he had spoken." Observe that, assuming 
that we have a true account, there was no room 
for mistake or for the operation of natural 
causes. The leper was "full of leprosy," and 
was cured "immediately." 

4. Shew thyself to the priest. TheLeviti- 
cal law provided that when a leper claimed to be 
healed, he should present himself to the priest, 
his healing should be officially passed upon by 
the priest, and certain sacrificial ceremonies per- 
formed, among which was the giving by the man 
of three lambs, with fine flour and oil ; if he 
were poor a less costly gift might be substituted. 
The directions are contained in Lev. ch. 14. The 
birds and cedar-wood, and scarlet and hyssop, 
there referred to (verse 4) were no part of the gift, 
but were provided by the priest. The object of 
this ceremonial was both sanitary and ceremo- 
nial. It secured the community against the con- 
tagion of lepers who had not been really healed, 
by requiring the official sanction of the priest, 
and it also kept alive the symbolism which rep- 
resented leprosy as a type of sin which, for its 
cleansing, requires divine pardon as well as phys- 
ical cure. It must be remembered that the 
priests were the learned class of the early ages, 
and that the practice of medicine was chiefly 
confined, in ancient lands, to the priesthood and 
the temples. Jesus directed the leper to comply 
with this law, and thus reunite himself vnth the 
church from which his leprosy had separated Mm. 

See thou tell no man. Because, (o,) Jesus 
would not have the leper make a boast of his 
miraculous cure, glory in it and in himself as a 
special object of divine favor; (&,) if the reputa- 
tion of his marvellous cure preceded him to Je- 
rusalem, the priests might deny that the man 
had ever been a leper, or was now truly cleansed, 
otherwise they would condemn themselves and 
their opposition to Jesus out of their own mouth ; 
(c, ) Christ customarily imposed silence on the sub- 
jects of his cures, because he would not that the 
faith of the people should rest upon the external 
evidence afforded by miracles, but upon their spi- 
ritual apprehension of the truth itself, (see Matt. 12 : 
15-21, 38, 39.) The evidence from miracles he always 
treated as less valuable than the evidence which 



the truth carried in itself (John 14 : 11). Christ and 
Christian truth are always the best evidence of Chris- 
tianity. Testimony unto them. These words 
are to be connected with Christ's command, not 
with that of Moses. The original may be trans- 
lated as in our version, or u for a testimony 
against them." Both ideas are involved. Their 
official recognition that the leper was truly 
cleansed would render the miracle a conclusive 
testimony to them of Christ's healing power ; it 
would be no less a testimony against them, be- 
cause by accepting the gift and recognizing the 
cure the priests would testify against their own 
incredulity and rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. 

Ch. 8 : 5-13. THE CURB OF THE CENTURION'S SER- 
VANT.— Exemplification of FAITH (10) ; IT ISHTTMBLE 
(8), CONFIDENT (8, 9), ACCOMPANIES PRACTICAL BENEVO- 
LENCE (8, Luke 7 : 1), has its reward (13). —Christ's 

KINGDOM IS COMPREHENSIVE, INCLUDES THE OUTCASTS 
OF EARTH (11) ; IS EXCLUSIVE, CASTS OUT THE NATU- 
RAL BUT UNWORTHY HEIR (12).— In THE KINGDOM OF 
HEAVEN ARE LIGHT, JOT, CHRISTIAN SOCIETY (11) ; IN 
THE KINGDOM OF SATAN DARKNESS, DESPAIR, OUT- 
CASTS (12). 

This incident is recorded by Luke (7 : 1-10) more 
fully than by Matthew ; for that the two ac- 
counts are of the same incident is beyond rea- 
sonable doubt. It is not to be confounded with 
the cure of the nobleman's son (join 4 : 4S-54 ; see 
notes there). It appears from Luke that the miracle 
was wrought immediately after Christ's Sermon 
on the Mount, and on his descent from the moun- 
tain; that the sick person, who is here called 
boy or child (see on verse o, teiow), was a servant who 
was dear to the centurion ; that the centurion 
was a favorite with the Jews, having built a syn- 
agogue for them ; that he did not go in person, 
but sent the elders of the Jews to intercede for 
him ; and that when he heard that Jesus was 
coming he sent a second delegation with the 
message, " I am not worthy," etc. The careful 
study of these two accounts is itself a lesson in 
biblical interpretation. They show that the 
Evangelists give only the essential facts, those 
that are necessary to an understanding of the 
moral significance of the teaching or the miracle. 

5. Capernaum. See Matt, i : 13. Centu- 
rion. A Roman military officer. All Palestine 
was under Roman military government ; this 
centurion was probably connected with the gar- 
rison at Capernaum. The Roman army was di- 
vided into legions, answering to our army corps, 
varying in size from three thousand to six thou- 
sand men ; each legion was divided into ten co- 
horts, usually called in the N. T. the "band;" 



118 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VIII. 



6 And saying. Lord, my servant lieth at home sick 
of the palsy, grievously tormented. 

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not 
worthy 2 that thou shouldest come under my roof: but 
speak the word only, a and my servant shall be healed. 

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers 



under me : and I say to this man. Go, and he goeth; 
and to another, Come, and he cometh ; and to my ser- 
vant, Do this, and he doeth it. 

io When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to 
them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not 
found so great faith, b no, not in Israel. 

ii And 1 say unto you, That many shall come from 



z Ps. 10 : 17 ; Luke 15 : 19, 21 a verse 3 ; Ps. 33 : 9 ; 107 : 



.c Isa. 2 : 2, 3 ; Luke 13 : 29 ; Acta 11 ; 18 , Eph. 3:6; Rev. 7:9. 



tlie cohort was divided into three maniples, and 
each maniple was divided into two centuries. 
These last contained from fifty to one hundred 
men, answering to our company, and each one 
was commanded by a centurion, answering to 
our captain. There were thus in each legion 
sixty centuries, each under the command of a 
centurion. 

6. My servant. The Greek word (nalg), 
translated servant, answers very nearly to the 
French term garcon, and to our term boy ; but it 
indicates that the relation between this centurion 
and his servant or boy was one unusually tender 
(see Luice 7 : a). Such instances of affection are more 
common in military than in domestic service. 
The regard which the master should have for his 
servant, especially in case of sickness, has been 
noted by the commentators as one of the morals 
indicated by this incident. "This centurion did 
not act as many masters do when their servants 
are afflicted — have them immediately removed to 
an infirmary or a work-house." — {Adam Clarke.) 
Lieth at home sick of the pa!sy. The dis- 
ease indicated is not certain, for the ancients 
grouped many diseases together because of a 
certain similarity in symptoms which modern 
science discriminates, on account of their differ- 
ent causes and their intrinsic nature. It may 
have been a form of paralysis, which is some- 
times accompanied with severe pain ; or it may 
have been tetanus, or lock-jaw, which in the East 
is not infrequently connected with paralysis. He 
was in great pain, "grievously tormented," and 
was " ready to die " (Luke i ■. 2). 

8. Answered. By a second delegation which 
the centurion sent when he heard that Christ 
was coming (Luke 7 : 6). What is done through 
another is often spoken of in Scripture, as in 
other books, as done by the person who directs 
it. See Gen. 40 : 22 ; 41 : 5G ; and compare Mark 
10 : 35 with Matt. 20 : 20. I am not worthy. 
Observe three estimates of the centurion's char- 
acter , first, his own, not worthy, because a Gen- 
tile, and because a sinner ; second, the Jewish 
estimate, worthy, because he had built a Jewish 
synagogue, the highest encomium on character 
which a Jewish elder could pass on a Gentile 
outcast (Luke 7 : 4, 5) ; third, Jesus' estimate, wor- 
thy, because of his faith, and needing no commen- 
dation from Jewish elders, but himself an exam- 
ple and a rebuke to them. Come under my 
roof. " Counting himself unworthy that Jesus 



should enter into his doors, he was counted wor- 
thy that Jesus should enter into his heart." — 
(Augustine.) Speak the word. Contrast the 
centurion's faith, who trusts all to the word of 
Christ, with Martha's, who trusts only to his 
prayer to God. John 11 : 21, 22. 

9. Under authority. The military author- 
ity of the East is even greater than in our own 
country. " No one ever inquires into the reason 
of an order of the rajah." — (Burder's Oriental 
Literature.) The idea appears to be, I am under 
authority ; yet my servants do my bidding with- 
out questioning ; you are no subordinate, how 
much more will disease obey you without ques- 
tioning or requiring your presence to confirm 
your command. But it is in no 'way probable 
that the centurion had any clear comprehension 
of an Almighty power in Christ, or regarded him 
in any other light than as a prophet and a worker 
of miracles. To deduce from this an argument 
for the divine power and character of Jesus is to 
attribute to the uninstructed centurion not only 
a, faith but a knowledge which the apostles did not 
acquire until after the resurrection of Jesus from 
the dead. 

10. When Jesus heard it he marvelled. 
The significance of such declarations as this is 
not to be impaired by such interpretations as 
that of Augustine, "for our good that we may 
imitate the centurion's faith." It is difficult to 
understand how Christ, endowed with perfect 
knowledge of what was in man, could marvel at 
any disclosure ; but not more difficult than to 
understand how he could rejoice, weep, be 
tempted, have spiritual struggles. It is a part 
of that inexplicable mystery which belongs to a 
nature too deep for our comprehension. It is 
not to be explained away in the vain endeavor to 
make a clear and easily comprehensible analysis 
of his character. What David said of the knowl- 
edge of God (Psalm 139 : 6> we may say of the char- 
acter of Christ : It is too wonderful for us, we 
cannot attain unto it. So great faith. "To 
have high imaginations concerning him, this 
especially is of faith and tends to procure the 
kingdom and his other blessings. " — ( Chrysostom. ) 
But this surely is not all. It was not merely be- 
lief, or hope, or expectation, which was exempli- 
fied, but faith, as a moral power impelling to ac- 
tion against moral obstacles. It was not merely 
an intellectual perception, but also a moral resolu- 
tion, which made the naturally skeptical Roman 



Oh. VIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



119 



the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, 
and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 

12 But the children of the kingdom" 1 shall be cast out 
into outer darkness: there shall be weeping 6 and 
gnashing of teeth. 



13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; 
and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. 
And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. 

14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he 
saw his wife's mother laid,' and sick of a fever. 



d ch. 7 : 22, 23 e en. 13 : 42, 50 f Mark 1 : 30, 31 ; Luke 4 : 38, 39. 



apply to a messenger of the God of the Jews, 
which made the naturally proud Roman apply to 
a prophet of a people whom the Romans de- 
spised and classed with slaves, which made a 
naturally haughty military officer recognize the 
superior authority of one who was under his 
military control, but whose power was from 
above, which made the naturally callous Roman 
appeal for help, not on his own behalf, but on 
that of a mere chattel servant. 

11. Many shall come. The question is 
sometimes still asked whether any of the hea- 
then, who have never known of and received 
Christ, will be admitted to heaven. Christ an- 
swers the question, at least by implication, here 
and in Luke 13 : 29. Compare Romans 2 : 8-11, 
and observe that the Gentiles referred to in the 
latter passage, and to whom Paul declares there 
is at least a possibility of salvation, are those that 
never have received a written law, i. «., the Bible 
(verses 12-15), and that in the case of the centurion 
the spirit of faith preceded any knowledge of 
Christ, and that there is nothing to show that 
this Roman had any clear and correct intellec- 
tual apprehension of Christ's character, or of 
his kingdom. Sit down. To sit at table with 
other immortals is a common metaphor among 
ancient writers to express future felicity. 

12. Cast out into outer darkness. "An 
emblem of such as are rejected and cast out of 
the door at the marriage-feast to which they had 
come. In despair they weep and gnash their 
teeth. The Jews generally had their great feasts 
in the evening ; those cast out are therefore in 
darkness." — (Burder , s Oriental Literature.) See 
for fuller interpretation notes on Matt. 25 : 1-13. 
Observe that, (a,) the kingdom of heaven is rep- 
resented as one of light and joy ; (&, ) that punish- 
ment consists in exclusion from God and the 
companionship of the holy. There is no sugges- 
tion here of positive torments, and although there 
are such intimations elsewhere (Matt. 13 : 50 ; is : 34, 

35 ; Mark 9 : 43-48 ; Luke 16 : 2.i), yet the contrast is Very 

marked throughout Christ's teachings between 
his representations of future punishment and 
those found in heathen literature. See, for ex- 
ample, the following quotation from the (Hin- 
doo) Institutes of Manu : "Multifarious tor- 
tures await the wicked. They shall be mangled 
by ravens and owls, and shall swallow cakes 
boiling hot, and shall walk over inflamed sands, 
and shall feel the pangs of being baked like the 
vessels of the potter ; they shall assume the form 



of beasts continually miserable, and suffer alter- 
nate afflictions from extremes of cold and heat, 
surrounded with terrors of various kinds. They 
shall have old age without resource, diseases at- 
tended with anguish, pangs of innumerable sort, 
and lastly unconquerable death." For the most 
part the Bible representations of future punish- 
ment are of a fixity in a state of sin (Rev. 22 : 11), 
and of banishment from the presence of God 

(2Thess. 1 :9). 

J 3. Was healed. Evidently this cure is not 
one which can be attributed to any known natural 
causes ; not merely because severe paralysis is 
extremely difficult of cure, if not incurable (on 
this much stress cannot be laid since we are not 
sure of the disease), but because Jesus did not 
even see his patient, so that no remedy could 
have been employed, and there could have been 
no opportunity even for the operation of mental 
causes in relieving the sufferer. 

Ch. 8 : 14-17. HEALING OP PETER'S MOTHER-IN- 
LAW AND OTHERS.— Christ ctjkbs in the household 

AS WELL AS IN THE CHURCH. — He CURES INSTANTLY, 
WHOLLY.— HE THAT CASTS OUT DISEASE ALSO IMPARTS 

stength (2 Peter 1 : 3).— He that is healed by 
Christ should immediately begin to serve Christ 
— He heals not only his friends but the multitude. 
— He suffers that he may heal, and thus exem- 
plifies THE LAW OF BURDEN-BEARING FOR OTHERS 
(Gal. 6 : 2).— We may bring to him not only our 

PAST SINS, BUT ALSO OUR PRESENT INFIRMITIES OF TEM- 
PER AND SICKNESSES OF SOUL. 

These incidents are reported in Mark 1 : 29-34, 
and Luke 4. : 38-41, more fully than here. They 
occurred before the Sermon on the Mount, dur- 
ing Christ's first missionary tour of Galilee, on 
Sabbath evening, and immediately after his heal- 
ing of the demoniac in the synagogue (Mark 1 : 23-26, 
29, etc. ; Luke 4 : 33-35, 38, etc.). The house was in Caper- 
naum where Peter lived, and near which town he 
had been called to follow Christ (Matt. 4 : 18-20). The 
healing followed almost immediately after this 
call. Thus Peter, who left all to follow Christ, 
gained by it a mother (Matt. 19 : 29). Peter, Andrew, 
James, and John were all with Christ at the time. 
The three had followed Peter with Christ from 
their fishing just previously (Matt. 4 : 18-22 ; Mark 1 : 29). 

14. Fever. Malarious fevers, of a malignant 
type, are common in the vicinity of Capernaum ; 
they are due, probably, to marshes near by. In 
the very imperfect medical language of that day 
fevers were simply divided into little and great 
fevers. Luke, who was a physician, character 



120 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. VIII. 



is And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: 
and she arose, and ministered unto them. 

16 When the even was come, they brought unto 
him manys that were possessed with devils : and he 
cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that 
were sick : 

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 
Esaias h the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmi- 
ties, and bare our sicknesses. 

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, 
he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. 



19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him. 
Master, I' will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 

20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, 
and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of 
man hath not where to lay his head. 

21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord,J 
suffer me first to go and bury my father. 

22 But Jesus saith unto him, Follow me ; and let the 
dead bury their dead. 

23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples 
followed him. 



g Mark 1 : 32, etc k Isa. 53:4; 1 Pet. 2 : i 



. .i Luke 9 ; 57, 58. . . .j 1 Kings 19 : 20. 



izes this as a " great fever. " That she was en- 
tirely prostrated by it is evident from the lan- 
guage here, "laid and sick of a fever." 

15. And he touched her hand. Accord- 
ing to both Mark and Luke he was asked to cure 
her. He not only touched her hand but lifted 
her up (Mark 1 : 31). The fever left her. Mark 
says immediately, which is implied here. She 
ministered unto them. Such a fever invari- 
ably leaves the patient weak. The period of 
convalescence is always long and trying, often 
full of danger. The fact that she ministered to 
them, i. e., served in the ordinary duties of the 
household, shows that Christ in healing the dis- 
ease also imparted health and strength, and it 
demonstrates the miraculous character of the 
cure. 

1G. When the even was come. It was 
on the Sabbath day (Mark, ch. 1), on which the 
Pharisaic law allowed no works of healing. The 
Sabbath ended at sunset. The Talmud says, 
"If in the going out of the Sabbath one do any 
work after one star is seen, he is bound to a 
sacrifice for sin ; if after two, to a sacrifice for 
transgression ; if after three, he is clear." It 
was during this twilight hour that the people 
brought their sick to Christ. Observe, that he 
heals Peter's mother-in-law without waiting for 
sunset, and thus privately teaches his disciples 
that it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath-day, a 
lesson which he subsequently repeated publicly 

(Matt. 12:12; John 5: 16, 17). They brought UlltO 

him, i. e., the people generally. Mark gives 
an idea of the throng by his expression, "All 
the city was gathered together at the door." 
3Iany. "In one word the Evangelist traverses 
an unspeakable sea of miracles." — (Chrysostom.) 
Compare John 20 : 30. Devils. See note at 
end of this chapter. Mark and Luke both add 
that he suffered them not to speak. 

17. That it might be fulfilled. The pas- 
sage referred to is Isaiah 53 : 4, 5. There the 
reference is clearly to sins and heart-sorrows ; 
here to physical disease. Matthew interprets 
the one by the other, and leaves us to draw the 
conclusion that as Christ bore the sicknesses of those 
he healed, in like manner he bears the sins of those he 
redeems; i. e., his character as a physician is the 
symbol of his character as a savior. How, then, 



did he bare the infirmities of the sick ? Not lit- 
erally. He removed them from others, but did 
not become diseased himself. Neither in remov- 
ing sins from others does he become stricken 

With Sin himself. (Compare John 1 : 29 with Hebrews 4 : 15.) 

But he did not merely heal the sick, he truly 
bore their sicknesses, not in his body, but in his 
heart. The metaphor both here and in Isaiah is 
of one who removes a burden by putting his own 
shoulder under it, and bearing it away upon him- 
self. This Christ did, because he entered through 
compassion into the sorrows and sicknesses he 
healed (Mark 7 : 34; John ii : 33, 35). So, not by any lit- 
eral transfer of sins from others to himself, but by 
a spiritual and sympathetic bearing of the bur- 
den of the world's sins in his own heart, he bore 
them away from all those who cast their burden 

On him. (Compare Gal. 6 : 2 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 24.) 

18-22. Conditions of following Christ. 
There is some uncertainty when this incident oc- 
curred. Mark does not record it, but he nar- 
rates the miracle of the stilling of the tempest, 
which he places immediately after the parables 
recorded in Matt. ch. 13 (Mark 4 : 35), and with that 
miracle Matthew connects this incident (verse is) ; 
Luke places it at a later period in Christ's life 
(Luke 9: 57). The hypothesis that the same inci- 
dents occurred twice is utterly indefensible. On 
the whole, the probability appears to be that it 
occurred on Christ's taking ship to depart to the 
other side of the lake, after preaching the para- 
bles on the kingdom of God, as recorded in Mat- 
thew, ch. 13. But as Luke's account is the full- 
est, I reserve comments on the practical and 
spiritual significance of the incident for the pas- 
sage in Luke. 

18. The other side, i. e., of the Sea of Gali- 
lee. His Object was to escape the throng, and 
secure quiet with his disciples. The offer of the 
scribe was therefore, if not an impertinence, cer- 
tainly an intrusion. 

21. Another of his disciples. According 
to an ancient tradition this was Philip. It seems 
more probable that the phrase disciple is here 
used only in the more general sense of one who 
had loosely attached himself to Jesus as a 
learner. It appears from Luke that his request 
was in response to Christ's command, "Pollow 
me." 




" He healed all that vjere sick.'' 



Ch. VIII] 



MATTHEW. 



121 



24 And behold, k there arose a great tempest in the 
sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the 
waves : but he was asleep. 

25 And his disciples came to Aim, and awoke him, 
saying, Lord, save us : we perish. 

26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O 
ye of little faith ? Then he arose, and rebuked 1 the 
winds and the sea ; and there was a great calm. 



27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner 
of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey 
him ! 

28 And" 1 when he was come to the other side, into 
the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two pos- 
sessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding 
fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 

29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have 



k Mark 4 : 37, etc. ; Luke 8 : 23, etc 1 Job 38 : 11 ; Ps. 89 : 9 ; 10T : 29 m Mark 5:1; Luke 8 : 26, etc. 



23-27. Stilling the tempest. Recorded 
also in Mark 4 : 35-41 and Luke 8 : 22-25. The 
account is fullest in Mark. It there appears that 
Christ departed as he was, i. e., without making 
any preparations ; that there were other ships or 
boats accompanying him ; that the waves filled 
the boat so that it seemed to be in danger of 
foundering ; that Christ was asleep in the hinder 
part of the boat on a pillow or cushion ; and that 
the disciples not only aroused him, but did so 
with words which implied fault-finding, because 
of his supposed indifference to their danger. 
The incident occurred immediately after the 
preaching of the parables concerning the king- 
dom of God, recorded in Matt. ch. 13. See notes 
on Mark 4 : 35-41. 

Ch. 8 : 28-34. HEALING OF THE DEMONIACS. The 

DEVILS CANNOT KEEP THE SOUL PROM CHRIST. — ThET 
HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH JESUS THE SAVIOUR ; BUT 
MUCH TO DO WITH THE SON OP GOD, THE JUDGE. — THE 
CREED OP THE DEVILS IS THE SAME AS PETER'S CREED 

(Matt. 16 : 16) ; the belief is the same but not the 
faith (James 2 : 19).— The holt are a torment to 
the wicked. — Sin protests against interference. 
Its cry is always Let us alone ; what have we 
to do with thee (1 Kings 18 : 17 ; Acts 16 : 20 ; 17 : 6). 
—The devil's possession is alwats for destruc- 
tion. — The devil promised all the kingdoms of 
the earth to Jesus (ch. 4:8); his agents cannot 
even take possession of a herd op swine without 
Christ's permission. — The power and the power- 
lessness of the devil both exemplified. — to the 
covetous swine are worth more than the sav- 
iour. — the sentence op the judgment-dat, "de- 
part " (ch. 25 : 41), will onlt echo the prater of 
the sinner. 

This miracle is recorded also in Mark 5 : 1-21 
and Luke 8 : 26-40, which, with the notes on the 
latter passage, see for some details omitted here. 

28. The other side. The eastern shore of 
the Sea of Galilee. Gergesenes. Mark and 
Luke have Gadarenes, and some manuscripts 
substitute that word here. For a time the seena- 
ing conflict between the sacred writers in this 
respect caused great perplexity to biblical stu- 
dents, and in the minds of rationalistic critics 
threw doubt over the whole narrative. The city 
of Gadara is three hours to the south of the 
southern shore of the lake, and the miracle could 
not have been performed in its vicinity ; and it is 
hardly probable that the citizens of so distant a 
city would have turned out en masse for a jour- 



ney of three hours to see the one who had 
wrought this miracle. But recently Dr. William 
Thompson has discovered a Gergesa, now called 
| Chersa or Gersa, on the eastern shore of the 
lake, and on the borders of the district or prov- 
ince which took its name from Gadara, one of 
the chief cities of Decapolis. This Gersa or Ger- 
gesa, so insignificant that it has escaped the at- 
tention of most travelers, was unknown to the 
Roman world. Mark and Luke therefore, who 
wrote for the Gentiles, described the miracle as 
occurring in the country of the Gadarenes, a de- 
scription which would have been readiiy com- 
prehended, since Gadara was one of the chief 
Roman cities of Palestine, and widely known. 
Matthew, who had been a tax-gatherer on this 
very shore, was familiar with every village and 
hamlet, and wrote for Jewish readers, described 
it as occurring in the country of the Gergesenes, 
thus fixing its locality more definitely. Chersa 
or Gersa answers to all the conditions of the nar- 
rative : it is within a few rods of the shore ; a 
mountain rises immediately above it, so near 
the shore that the swine, rushing madly down, 
could not stop, but would be inevitably driven 
on into the water and drowned ; the ruins of 
ancient tombs are still found in this mountain- 
side, and Capernaum is in full view on the other 
side, "over against it" (Luke 8:26). See Thomp- 
son's Land and Book, vol. ii., pp. 34, 35. 

Two possessed with devils. Mark and 
Luke mention but one; probably the fiercer of 
the two. He was naked (Luke 8 : 27), had been 
chained but had broken his chains, and had cut 
himself with stones until he was doubtless cov- 
ered with blood. He ran to Jesus and wor- 
shipped him, i. «., as the devils worship, not by 
paying him a true reverence, but by a compul- 
sory acknowledgment of his power. See Mark 
for a graphic picture of his condition. On the 
nature of demoniac possession, see below. 

Out of the tombs. These were caves 
formed by nature or cut in the rocks, with cells 
at the sides for the reception of the dead. They 
were ceremonially unclean (jfumb. 19 : 11, 16; Matt. 23: 
27 ; Luke ii : 44), and dwelling in them was of itself 
a sign of degradation. Trench {Notes on the 
Miracles) quotes from Warburtori 's Orescent and 
the Cross a striking illustration of this account : 
"I found myself in a cemetery, whose sculp- 
tured turbans showed me that the neighboring 



122 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. VIII. 



we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God ? art thou 
come hither to torment us before the time ? 

30 And there was a good way off from them, an herd 
of many swine, feeding. 

31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast 
us out, suffer" us to go away into the herd of swine. 



32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they 
were come out, they went into the herd of swine : 
and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently 
down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the 
waters. 

33 And they that kept them fled, and went their 



n Job 1 : 10-12 ; 2 : 3-6 Deut. 14 : 8 ; Isa. 65 : 3, 4. 



village was Moslem. The silence of the night 
was now broken by fierce yells and howlings, 
which I discovered proceeded from a naked ma- 
niac, who was fighting with some wild dogs for 
a bone. The moment he perceived me he left 
his canine comrades, and bounding along with 
rapid strides, seized my horse's bridle, and 
almost forced him backward over the cliff 
by the grip he held of the powerful Marmeluke 
bit." Exceeding fierce. Mark adds that he 
could neither be tamed nor bound, and Luke 
that the evil spirit drove him into the wilderness. 

29. Comparing this account with Mark and 
Luke, the facts appear to be that the maniac 
made a rush towards Jesus and the twelve, per- 
haps purposing to destroy them ; that Christ 
stopped him by word of command, requiring the 
evil spirits to leave the man, and that the expos- 
tulation given in this verse was the devil's re- 
sponse to that command. Christ then asks his 
name, and is told it is " Legion." The devils be- 
seech that they may not be sent "out into the 
deep " (Luke 8:3i, andnots), literally into the abyss, 
i. e., back into their prison-house, but instead 
may be suffered to enter into the herd of swine. 
What have we to do with thee ? A com- 
mon Jewish phrase, signifying a wish not to be 
troubled by the importunity or the interference 

Of another (judges ll : 12; 2 Sain. 16 : 10; 2 Kings 9 : 18; Ezra 

4:3; John 2 : 4). To torment us. Compare Mark 
1:24. " Herein the true devilish spirit speaks, 
one which counts it a torment not to be suffered 
to torment others, and an injury done to itself 
when it is no more permitted to be injurious to 
others." — (Trench.) Before the time. When 
the devil and his angels shall be shut up in the 

fire prepared for them (Matt. 25 : 41 ; Jude 6 ; Rev. 20 : 10). 

30. And there was * * * an herd of 
many swine. Mark gives the number, about 
2000. The flesh of swine was forbidden as food 
by the Levitieal law (Lev. 11 : i-, Deut. 14 :8). It is 
generally believed that its use in hot countries 
tends to induce cutaneous disorders, and would 
render the eater more liable to leprosy and kin- 
dred diseases. It is to the present day held in 
great abhorrence among the Jews (see Isaiah 65: 4; 
66 : 3, n). The rabbinical law forbade the keeping 
of swine. Whether this herd was kept by Jews 
or by heathen is a matter of uncertainty. The 
cities of Decapolis were largely filled with Ro- 
mans, with whom swine's flesh was deemed a 
luxury. 



31. So the devils besought him, etc. 

This, as appears in both Mark and Luke, was in 
response to Christ's command to the evil spirit 
to come out of the man. Adam Clark remarks 
on this passage that since the evil spirit cannot 
enter the body of even a swine without divine 
permission, those need not fear the devil whose 
trust is in God. 

32. It is impossible for an honest interpreter 
to understand this narrative in any other than 
its plain and natural sense, viz., that there were 
evil spirits in the man controlling his personality, 
that they left him and entered into the herd of 
swine, and that in consequence, either driven by 
fright or acting under the impulses of the evil 
spirits, the entire herd rushed headlong into the 
sea. Any such pseudo interpretation as that 
offered by Lange, in his Life of Jesus, but appar- 
ently abandoned in hi6 Commentary, that the 
cries of the demoniac man, when the evil spirit 
came out of him, frightened the herd and threw 
them into a panic, are not interpretations at all, 
but the substitution of a new narrative for those 
which the Evangelists have given us ; the sup- 
position of Mr. Livermore that "Jesus miracu- 
lously transferred the insanity from the men to 
the swine " (Livermore' 1 s Commentary, Matt. 8 : 
32) needs only to be stated ; it bears its own re- 
futation on its face. The general question of 
demoniac possession I consider below ; but some 
special questions, raised by this part of the nar- 
rative, may be briefly answered here. Wliy should 
Christ have permitted the evil spirits to enter the 
swine ? A difficult question ; but less so than 
the question why God should have permitted 
them to enter into the man, or indeed sin to enter 
into the world at all. Wliy should they have de- 
stroyed the herd of swine, and so deprived themselves, 
so to speak, of a terrestrial abode ? Perhaps the act 
of the swine was the result of panic, and in spite 
of the evil spirits. But Trench well remarks 
that it is the very nature of evil thus to outwit 
itself; "stupid, blind, self-contradictory, and 
suicidal, it can only destroy, and will involve it- 
self in the common ruin rather than not destroy." 
What right had Christ to allow the destruction of 
the property of another ? He had the same right 
which he constantly exercises through the de- 
structive agencies of nature to do what he will 
with his own. His destroying cattle by murrain, 
cities by earthquakes, ships with their living 
freight by storm, is all a part of the same in- 



Ch. VIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



123 



ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was 
befallen to the possessed of the devils. 

34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet 
Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him 
that he would depart'' out of their coasts. 



CHAPTER IX. 

AND he entered into a ship, and passed over, and 
came into his own city. 
2 And,"' behold, they brought to him a man sick of 



p Job 21 ; 14; Luke 5:8; Acts 16 : 39 q Mark 2 ; 3, etc. ; Luke 5 : 18, etc. 



Bcrutable mystery. Here we can at least see that 
the destruction of the herd of swine, standing 
in contrast with the salvation of the man, has 
given the cure a significance it could not have 
possessed otherwise, and their panic-stricken 
flight affords a sort of testimony, coming from the 
lowest animals, against the consent which alone 
allows the devil ever to gain possession of us. 
If the herdsmen were Jews, they deserved the 
loss of their herd. How are we to understand the 
devils entering into the swine, i.e., " the working of 
the spiritual life in the bestial ?" We know so little 
of the means by which even through physical 
organs of speech, sight, and hearing, one spirit 
acts upon the other, that we may well admit the 
mystery of this possession of the swine by an evil 
spirit. But we daily see the horse and the dog 
catching the spirit of their master, emboldened 
by his courage or panic-stricken by his fear ; 
facts which may illustrate, if they cannot fully 
explain, how a herd of swine might be possessed 
by evil spirits. " The very fierceness and gross- 
ness of these animals may have been exactly 
that which best fitted them for receiving such 
impulses from the lower world as those under 
which they perished." — (Trench.) 

33. Went * * * into the city. Not Gadara, 
which was three hours distant, but Chersa or 
Gergesa, which was close at hand. See on verse 
28. Told everything, and what had be- 
fallen to the possessed. Evidently first 
what had befallen the swine entrusted to their 
keeping, next what salvation had come to the 
man. 



34. The whole city. See note on Matt. 3 : 5. 
Besought him that he would depart. It 

appears from Mark and Luke that the sight of 
the well-known maniac clothed and in his right 
mind filled the people with fear. Awe at the 
miracle, mingled with dread because of the de- 
struction of their property, led them to beseech 
Christ to depart. The loss of 2000 swine was 
more to them than the saving of a soul. 

Ch. 9:1. And he took ship. This verse 
belongs with the preceding chapter, and narrates 
Christ's response to the people's request. It 
does not connect the embarkation for the western 
shore of Galilee with the miracle following — the 
healing of the paralytic. See on verse 2. Twice 
in this narrative Christ hears the prayer whose 
petition is for evil — the prayer of the evil spirit, 
which ends in the destruction of the swine and in 
the exile of the evil spirits and their being driven 
back from earth into their own place again, and 
now the prayer of the people that he would 
depart from their coasts. "God sometimes 
hears his enemies in anger (Numb. 22 : 19, 20), even as 
he [sometimes] refuses to hear his friends in love 
(2 Cor. 12 : 8, 9). ' ' — ( Trench. ) Christ appears never to 
have visited the country of the Gadarenes again. 
He does not abide where he is not wanted (compare 
Exod. 10: 28, 29; Acta 24: 25). Mark and Luke add to 
this account that the demoniac " published 
throughout the whole city how great things 
Jesus had done unto him ;" an incidental evi- 
dence of the completeness of his cure. And 
came into his own city, i. e., Capernaum 

(Matt. 4 : 13). 



OF DEMONIACAL POSSESSION. 



Of all the cases of demoniacal possession record- 
ed in the N. T. this is the most striking. The 
difficulties peculiar to it have been considered 
above. It remains to speak briefly of the general 
subject. 

The N. T., and especially the Evangelists, re- 
peatedly mention individuals whom they describe 
as possessed by devils. Eor the most part these 
persons seem to have been harmless ; sometimes, 
however, of a violent and dangerous character. 
The possession w ( as often accompanied by physi- 
cal disease — blindness, dumbness, epilepsy. In 
one case it accompanied a disorder which was 
congenital, if not hereditary. The victim seems 
usually to have been possessed of a double con- 
sciousness. His acts were unwitting. And when, 
by the word of Jesus, the devil was cast out, 



and he appeared clothed and in his right mind, 
he was with peculiar significance a new creature 

in Christ JeSUS (Matt. 12 : 22 ; Mark 9 : 18, 20, 21 ; Luke 8 : 29 ; 

and see references below). In respect to the narratives 
of these cases two important questions arise : 
1st. What are we to suppose the writers meant by 
their narratives; i. e., how did they understand 
these cases. 2d. Is their understanding to be ac- 
cepted? i. e., did they correctly interpret the phe- 
nomena which they recorded, or are we to give 
to those phenomena, in the light of modern sci- 
ence, a different interpretation ? 

In respect to the first question there is really 
no difficulty. It was the universal belief of their 
age, both among the Jews and among the hea- 
then, that evil spirits operated upon and some- 
times controlled both nature and the human 



124 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. VIII. 



soul. Disease was often, and lunacy was gen- 
erally, attributed to the influence of evil spirits. 
The Evangelists unquestionably believed and 
intended to be understood as asserting that the 
persons described as possessed with evil or un- 
clean spirits were really and literally under the 
control of disembodied spirits, agents of Satan. 
They are frequently distinguished from those 
afflicted with mere physical disorders (Mark 1 : 32; 
16:17,18; Luke 6 : H, is) ; the demons are distin- 
guished, nowhere, perhaps, more clearly than in 
this narrative, from the persons whom they con- 
trol, and are represented as recognizing in Jesus 
the Son of God, a title not given to him even by 
his disciples until toward the close of his minis- 
try (see verse 29 ; Mark 1 : 24 ; 5:7; Luke 4:41; compare Matt. 

16 : is). No honest interpreter can doubt that the 
Evangelists shared the common opinion of their 
day, and intended to be understood as asserting 
that these individuals were under the control of 
evil spirits, and that Christ literally emancipated 
them from this diabolical servitude, and cast the 
evil spirits out. 

The second question is really the only one in 
the case, viz. : Did they correctly interpret the 
phenomena which they recorded, or are we to 
give to those phenomena, in the light of modern 
science, a different interpretation ? 

It is certain that they bear a curiously strik- 
ing resemblance to cases of what is in modern 
scientific language called "moral insanity." 
In both there is a clear recognition of the dif- 
ference between right and wrong ; in both there 
is the testimony of the patient that he is impelled 
by a power beside himself ; both are accompa- 
nied sometimes by acts of violence, sometimes by 
attempts at suicide ; both are, in their worst 
forms, attended with epileptic convulsions ; both 
are frequently manifested in periodic returns of 
disorder, with intervals of sanity ; both are some- 
times traceable to willful self-indulgence in some 
form of sin as their provoking cause ; and in 
both there is at times, in a remarkable degree, 
an appreciation of the character of persons with 
whom the insane are thrown in contact, who are 
sometimes peculiarly affected by the presence of 
persons of a pure and holy character (Mark i: 24; 

6 : 6, 9; 9 : 17, 18-22; Luke 4 : 33). The reader wllO is CU- 

rious to investigate this parallelism will find the 
material in Abbott's Jesus of Nazareth, chap. 
13, and still more full reports of modern cases 
analogous to the demoniacal possession of the 
N. T., in Ray's Medical Jurisprudence, chap. 7, §5, 
pp. 202-260; Henry Maudsley's Physiology and 
Pathology of the Mind, chap. 3, pp. 306-316, and 
Forbes Winslow's Obscure Diseases of the Brain 
and Mind, pp. 179-211. These parallels have led a 
certain class of critics to the conclusion that the 
persons described in the N. T. as possessed of 
evil spirits were in fact only lunatics, and that 



the narrative of their disease and their cure is to 
be interpreted accordingly. The great majority 
of Evangelical scholars agree, however, in the 
opinion that the individuals described as pos- 
sessed by evil spirits, were really under their 
control, and that the cures described consisted 
in fact, as well as in appearance, in the casting 
out of the evil spirit. This opinion, which I think 
is the only one consistent with belief in the his- 
torical trustworthiness of the Scriptures, or con- 
fidence in the truthfulness of Christ, rests on the 
following grounds : — 1st. It best accords with the 
facts testified to by modern science, if not best 'with 
its hypotlieses. In certain of the cases of so-called 
"moral insanity," the patient not only recognizes 
the difference between right and wrong, and ab- 
hors the crime to the commission of which he is 
impelled, seemingly by a will stronger than his 
own, but subsequently, in his sane moments, or 
previously, in anticipation of the paroxysm, de- 
clares himself conscious of the indwelling of 
another spirit too strong for his resistance, and 
asserts that he is "prompted by Satan," while 
on the other hand medical examination, in many 
cases, fails to find any physical cause for the 
phenomena. These circumstances have led some 
of the highest authorities in mental disease to 
acknowledge the cause of those forms of "moral 
insanity " to be inscrutable (see both Henry 
Maudsley and Forbes Winslow), and others to 
recognize demoniacal possession, as a modern 
phenomenon, to be the most probable and rational 
explanation of them. This is the view of Es- 
quirol, who Gtands at the head of the French 
school, if not of all schools, as a student of men- 
tal disorders. 2d. It best accords with other teach- 
ings of Scripture. This represents that there is a 
world of disembodied spirits, both good and bad ; 
that they are not wholly separated from man, 
but exert a powerful influence upon him ; that 
their influence is not a thing of the past, but that 
the Christian has still need to watch and pray 

against it (Judges 9 : 23 ; 1 Sam. 16 : 14-23 ; 18 : 10, 11 ; 19 : 9, 10 ; 
1 Kings 22 : 22; Luke 22 : 31 ; John 13 : 27; Acts 5 : 3; 2 Cor. 4: 4; 
Ephes. 6: 11, 12; 1 Tim. 3:7; 1 Pet. 5 : 8). 3d. It OCCOrds 

with the teaching and conduct of Jesus Christ. He 
distinctly recognized the personality and presence 
of demons, distinct from the man in whom they 
were, and from whom they were cast out (Mark 

1 : 25 ; 5:9; 9 : 25 ; Luke 10 : 17-20 ; 11 : 17-26). Either his 

words are falsely reported, i. e., demoniacal pos- 
session is a mythical addition of a later date, or 
he was himself under a delusion respecting these 
cases, i. e., he shared the ignorance and supersti- 
tion of his age, or he ratified and confirmed that 
superstition for the purpose of adding to his 
prestige by seeming to cast out spirits that had 
no existence ; i. e., he lent himself to imposture, 
or evil spirits really exercised a control over the im- 
pulses and the will of those whom they were sent to 



Oh. IX.] 



MATTHEW. 



125 



the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith, 
said unto the sick of the palsy, Son/ be of good cheer ; 
thy sins be forgiven thee. 

3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within 
themselves, This man blasphemeth, 

4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts," said, Where- 
fore think ye evil in your hearts ? 

5 For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven 
thee ; or to say, Arise, and walk ? 



6 But that ye may know that the Son tit man hath 
power on earth to forgive' sins, (then saith he to the 
sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto 
thine house. 

7 And he arose, and departed to his house. 

8 But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, 
and glorified" God, which had given such power unto 
men. 

9 And v as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a 



.s Pa. 139 : S ; John 2 : 24, 25 ; Heb. 4 : 



12, 13; Rev. 2: 23. . ..t Micah 7 
Luke 5 : 27, etc. 



18.... u Ads 4: 21; Gal. 1 : 24. ...V Mark 2 : 14; 



possess, and Christ ready drove them out from their 
possession, and emancipated the soul from their con- 
trol. If the question is asked why this demoniac 
possession is unknown now, the answer is, that 
it is not unknown ; that, on the contrary, demo- 
niacal possession is the most natural explanation 
of certain forms of so-called " moral insanity ; " 
that it should exist in less degree and extent is 
just what we should expect from the declarations 
of Scripture (zech. 13 : 2; 1 John 3: 8). How far the 
victim of demoniacal possession was responsible 
for his condition, how far he is to be regarded as 
guilty, and how far as simply unfortunate, is a 
diffi cult if not an insoluble question. "The com- 
mon characteristic of all was cowardice, a cow- 
ardly surrender of a weak and lowered conscious- 
ness to wicked influences." — (Lange.) Every such 
surrender by the soul is one step toward a com- 
plete enthrallment of the soul by evil, though 
that enthrallment rarely becomes complete in 
this life. 

Ch. 9 : 2-8. Healing of the pakalyttc. 
The accounts of this miracle in Mark 2 : 1-12, 
and Luke 5 : 17-26, are fuller than that given 
here. From these accounts it appears that the 
crowd was so great that the friends of the para- 
lytic could not reach the house in which Christ 
was teaching, and that they uncovered the roof 
and let the patient down with the bed or mat- 
tress on which he was lying. This constituted 
the evidence of their faith, commended by the 
Lord. The miracle took place, not, as might lie 
supposed, on Christ's return from the country of 
the Gadarenes, but more probably at about the 
time of the healing of the leper, recorded in 
Matt. 8 : 2-4. For notes on the miracle see 
Mark 2 : 1-12. 

Ch. 9 ; 9-13. THE CALL OF MATTHEW.— A bad busi- 
ness IS A POOK EXCUSE FOR NOT FOLLOWING CHRIST ; 
FOLLOW HIM OUT OF IT. — THE POWER OF CHRIST'S 
CALLING : IT SUMMONS FROM ALL RANKS AND ALL AVO- 
CATIONS.— Christ's sociability the true model of 
Christian sociability.— A right and a wrong way 
to associate with sinners ; A right and a wrong 

WAY TO BE SEPARATE FROM THEM. CHRIST ATE WITH 
SINNERS BUT WAS SEPARATE FROM THEM ; THE PHARI- 
SEES SCORNED THEM BUT WERE ONE WITH THEM. — MAT- 
THEW AN EXAMPLE OF A FISHER OF MEN : CALLED HIM- 
SELF, HE CALLS OTHERS. — SlN IS BOTH A WEAKNESS AND 



A DISEASE ; PERSONAL SYMPATHY AFFORDS SPIRITUAL 
STRENGTH AND IS A SPIRITUAL MEDICINE. — THERE IS 
LESS RELIGION IN SACRIFICE WITHOUT MERCY THAN IN 
MERCY WITHOUT SACRIFICE ; TRUE RELIGION CONSISTS 
IN SACRIFICE AND MERCY. — THE EXCLUDED AND THE 
INCLUDED IN CHRIST'S CALLING: THE EXCLUDED ALL 
THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS ; THE INCLUDED ALL CONSCIOUS 
OF STN. 

The call of a publican, and a subsequent feast 
given by him in honor of the Lord, are recorded 
by Mark 2 : 13-17, and Luke 5 : 27-32 ; but in 
Mark and Luke the publican is called Levi. 
Matthew never speaks of himself as Levi in his 
own gospel, and is never spoken of as Levi by 
the other Evangelists in any other passage. This 
has led some commentators to suppose that 
there were two persons and two feasts, a suppo- 
sition which is quite improbable, and is now 
universally rejected. Changes of name in com- 
memoration of any great event were not uncom- 
mon among the Jews, of which the cases of 
Abram or Abraham, Jacob or Israel, and Saul of 
Tarsus or Paul (Gen. 17 : 5 ; 32 : 28 ; Acts 13 : 9) are strik- 
ing illustrations ; that of Simon changed to Peter 

(John 1 : 42, and note there) is Still more in point. If, as 

is probable, the name Matthew means the same as 
the modern name Theodore, Gift of God or Given 
to God, its very significance would help to ac- 
count for the change. Chrysostom and Jerome 
note the " self-denial of the Evangelist who dis- 
guises not his former life, but adds even his 
name, when the others had concealed him under 
another appellation." Observe that in ch. 10 : 3 
Matthew calls himself "Matthew the publican," 
while neither Mark nor Luke so characterize him 
in the lists of the apostles. There can be no doubt 
that the call of Matthew preceded the Sermon 
on the Mount, which was an ordination sermon 
following the solemn consecration of the twelve 
to their apostolic office (Luke 6 : 13-20) ; nor that it 
immediately succeeded the cure of the paralytic, 
with which Matthew directly connects it by his 
phrase "as Jesus passed forth from thence." 
At what time the feast was given by Matthew to 
Christ , is not so certain. All the Evangelists 
connect it with the call of Matthew ; it is a ra- 
tional supposition that Matthew gave it at this 
time ; in that case he would naturally invite his 
old associates to the feast ; whereas, after enter- 
ing on his apostolate, and breaking off his old 



126 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. IX. 



man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom : 
and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and 
followed him. 



10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the 
house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and 
sat down with him and his disciples. 



life with them, he would be less likely to invite 
them ; and it seems almost certain that this feast 
preceded the charges brought against Jesus, and 
recorded in Matthew 11 : 19. On the other hand, 
Matthew connects this feast directly with the 
healing of Jairus' daughter (see Terse is, below), which 
Mark and Luke place immediately after the cure 
of the Gadarene demoniac, but without any defi- 
nite note of time. The better opinion is that the 
feast was given at the time of Matthew's call, 
though this is by no means certain. 

Accepting this opinion, and combining the ac- 
counts of the three Evangelists, the fact and its 
significance may be concisely stated thus : Christ 
calls a tax-gatherer to leave his office and join 
the band of itinerant disciples ; the call is ac- 
cepted with alacrity ; and as a means of knowing 
his new master, and at the same time bringing 
him to a knowledge of his old associates, Levi 
gives a feast to which both Christ and his disci- 
ples, and his own former companions, are invited. 
At the same time he takes on the new name of 
Matthew, which he henceforth bears. By ac- 
cepting the invitation Christ enters into familiar 
intercourse with a class of men whose moral 
character was bad, whose reputation was worse, 
and whose iniquitous avocation was justly odious 
to all men. The Pharisees ask the disciples, 
tauntingly, for an explanation, and Christ replies 
by declaring his object to be the elevation and 
redemption of sinners, and by referring them to 
the Scriptures which they pretended to teach, 
but whose spirit they totally misapprehended 
(2 Cor. 3 : 15, 16), as the authority for his course. 

9. As Jesus passed forth from thence. 
This indisputably connects the call of Matthew 
with the preceding miracle, and places both in 
the period of Christ's earlier ministry in Galilee, 
where it is placed by Mark. Chrysostom ob- 
serves that Christ calls Matthew immediately 
after having asserted and demonstrated in the 
preceding miracle his power to forgive sins. 
Matthew. Luke says that he was the son of 
Alphseus. This was a not uncommon name 
among the Jews. It is not probable it was the 
same Alphseus who is described in Matthew 10 : 3 
(see note there) as the father of James. This is the 
first mention of Matthew in the Gospels. On 
his life and character, see note at end of chapter 
10. Sitting at the receipt of custom. 
The taxes levied by the Roman government 
on the inhabitants of Palestine may be roughly 
divided into two classes — internal taxes and 
tolls. The former included all taxes levied on 
persons and property directly ; the latter, all cus- 
toms levied on goods in transit ; and answered 



to our modern custom dues. They are distin- 
guished in Rom. 13 : 7 as tribute and custom. 
The customs' were levied on all goods imported 
for trade, though not, ordinarily, on such as 
were Imported for the purchaser's personal use ; 
they were levied at harbors, piers, and gates of 
cities ; they amounted to a sum varying at differ- 
ent times from one-eighth to one-fortieth of the 
value of the goods ; any attempt at concealment 
was punished by the confiscation of the articles. 
Matthew probably sat in the custom-house of 
Capernaum to gather some rate or toll of those 
that crossed the sea. Luke adds that he was a 
publican (see also Matt. io : 3) ; and some knowledge 
of the character of the publicans is necessary 
to understand the significance of his call and 
the attending circumstances, as well as to ex- 
plain the frequent references to them in the 
N. T. 

Of the publicans. These were inferior offi- 
cers employed as collectors of the Roman taxes, 
which were of a character to make any collector 
sufficiently odious. Every article exported or 
imported paid a customs-tax ; every article sold 
paid a tax on each sale ; every house, every door, 
every column, had its special tax ; all property, 
real and personal, was taxed ; and the citizens of 
subordinate provinces, including therefore the 
Jews, paid in addition a poll-tax. The method 
of collecting these taxes made them the more 
burdensome, and those employed in their collec- 
tion more odious. The provinces were farmed 
out by the Roman government to wealthy indi- 
viduals, or joint-stock companies, who paid large 
sums for the privilege of collecting the taxes. 
They in turn let these provinces in smaller dis- 
tricts to sub-contractors, who employed in the 
collection of the taxes the lowest and worst 
class of the native population, since no others 
would assume a task so hateful. They were re- 
quired to pay over to their superiors the exorbi- 
tant sum fixed by the law, and depended for 
their profit on what they could make by fraud 
and extortion. They overcharged, brought false 
charges of smuggling to extort hush-money, 
seized upon property in case of dispute and held 
it until their levy was paid, forbade the farmer 
to reap his standing crops until they had wrung 
from him all that his penury could produce. 
They were universally feared, hated, and de- 
spised throughout the empire ; but nowhere 
more than in Palestine. The Jews not only ac- 
counted all payment of tribute to a foreign and 
heathen government as a national degradation, 
but also the servitude which compelled such 
payment as a condition dishonoring to God ; 



Oh. IX.] 



MATTHEW. 



127 



ii And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his 
disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and 
sinners ? w 

12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, 
They that be whole need not a physician, but they 
that are sick. 



13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I* will 
have mercy, and not sacrifice : for I am not come to 
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. * 

14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, 
Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples 
fast not ? 



w ch. 11 : 19 ; Luke 16 : 2 ; Heb. 5:2 x ch. 12 : 7 ; Prov. 21 : 3 ; Hogea 6:6; MIcaa 6:8 y Luke 24 : 41 ; Acts 5 : 31 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 9. 



hence the publicans were in their eyes not only 
odious as tax-collectors, but yet more hateful as 
traitors to their nation and apostates from their 
religious faith. The Talmud classes them with 
thieves and assassins, and regards their repent- 
ance as impossible. No money known to have 
come from them was received for religious uses. 
They were classed with sinners, with harlots, 
with heathen in public estimation, and probably 
in their actual and customary companionships 

(Matt. 9 : 11; 11 : 19; 18 : 17; 21 : 31,32). Nor Was their 

ill-repute confined to the Holy Land. Cicero de- 
clares theirs to be the basest of all livelihoods. 
It was a current Latin proverb throughout the 
empire, "All the publicans are altogether rob- 
bers." Even Nero made an attempt to abolish 
both the nefarious system and the order of pub- 
licans which sprang from it, but their moneyed 
influence was too great, and he abandoned the 
endeavor. It was out of the lower class of these 
publicans that Matthew was called ; and from 
them and their natural associates the guests 
were composed who attended the feast which 
Matthew gave. 

10. In the house, i. e., in Matthew's house. 
He gave the feast (Luke 5 : 29), using it, as a fisher 
of men, to catch his old associates. Reclined 
with him. The posture at meal was that of 
reclining, as indicated in the cut. Thus, to recline 




at table with publicans and sinners was to come into 
the most intimate social relations with them. That 
culture which is so refined that it cannot bear con- 
tact with the sinful is not Christian culture. 

11. Unto his disciples. Not to Christ, of 
whom they habitually stood in awe (compare Matt. 
22 : 46). Perhaps there was in this question an en- 
deavor to estrange the disciples from their Lord. 
Luke says they murmured, i. e., talked over in a 
low voice privately, not intending that Jesus 
should hear. Their complaint was probably 
made subsequent to the feast ; for the Pharisees 
could not have been present at it without stulti- 



fying themselves. Why eateth. Observe the 
tenor of the complaint ; it is not that he taught 
sinners, but that he associated with them. The 
same complaint would be made now against any 
clergyman who should associate with the same 
outlawed class in the community. It is not always 
true that the man is known by the company he 
keeps ; nor always true that we are to avoid bad 
company. There is no instance in the Gospels in 
which Christ refused an invitation to a social 
gathering ; and none in which he refused to asso- 
ciate with any on account of their social or moral 
character, though both he and Paul recognize 
the necessity of casting some out from all fel- 
lowship With US (Matt. 18 : 17 ; 1 Cor. 5 : 9). But the 

significance of Christ's social life is interpreted by 
the two verses which follow, and by his uniform 
practice of availing himself of these social op- 
portunities to teach some truth to or to inspire a 
higher life in the guests of the occasion (Luke 11 * 

38, etc. ; 14: l,etc. ; 19 : 5-lu). 

12, 13. Jesus * * * said unto them. 

The disciples made no answer. It is possible that 
they were as much perplexed as the Pharisees (see 
Acts 10 : 14, is). It is not improbable that they were 
overawed by the assumed religious superiority 
and purity of the religious teachers of Judaism. 
They that be whole ; rather, strong. Sin is 
a disease needing cure ; it is a moral weakness ; 
the victim needs moral strength rather than in- 
struction ; and it is through social fellowship 
that the way is opened to impart the needed 
strength to the moral nature and enable it to 
conquer its temptations. 

13. Go ye and learn. This is said to have 
been a common form of speech among the Jewish 
rabbis when they referred their hearers to the 
Scriptures ; Jesus thus treats the religious teach- 
ers as themselves pupils, and sends them to their 
own sacred writings to study their meaning. 
"He signifies that not he was transgressing the 
law, but they ; as if he had said, Whereof accuse 
me ? Because I bring sinners to amendment ? 
Why then ye must accuse the Father also for 
this." — (Chrysqstom.) I will have mercy and 
not sacrifice. The quotation appears to be 
from Hosea 6 : 6, but its spirit is embodied in many 
passages in the O. T. (i Sam. 15 : 22; Ps. 50 : 8-15) ; es- 
pecially in the prophets (Isaiah 1 : ll-n ; Amos 5 : 21-24 ; 

Mic. 6 : 7, 8). It would appear utterly incomprehen- 
sible that the Bible students of the first century 
could have failed to apprehend the meaning of 



128 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. IX. 



15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the 
bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom 2 is 
with them ? but the days will come, when the bride- 



groom shall be taken from them, and then shall a they 
tast. 
16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old 



z ch. 25 : 1, 10 ; John 3 : 29 ; Rev. 21 : 2 a Isa. 22 : 12. 



these passages, and have discovered only a re- 
ligion of fruitless formalism in the O. T., were 
there not so many similar misinterpreters at the 
present day. Sacrifice was the chief part of the 
ceremonial law, and represents here the religion 
of formal obedience to ceremonial rules ; mercy 
expresses that spirit of love to the fallen which 
seeks their restoration. The very essence of the 
Jewish sacrificial system was that it expressed 
the infinite mercy of God, in providing a way of 
pardon for sin. To be without the spirit of mercy 
was really to lose the meaning and heart of the 
sacrifices ; as now, to hold to the doctrine of 
Christ's atoning sacrifice, but to be without the 
spirit which leads to personal self-sacrifice for 
the salvation of others, is to be without the spirit 

Of Christ (Phil 2 : 5, etc. ; 1 John 3 : 16). 

Not * * * the righteous but sinners. 

This is not exactly equivalent to "those who 
think themselves righteous" and "those who 
confess themselves sinners," as Wordsworth ex- 
plains it. Christ takes the Pharisees at their own 
estimation of themselves, and the publicans at 
the Pharisees' estimation of them, and says : " I 
have come to preach the doctrine of repentance 
as the condition of entering the kingdom of 
heaven (Matt. 4 : n). Evidently the doctrine of 
repentance is for sinners such as these publicans 
are, not for the righteous such as you are !" It 
is in so far a keen irony of their self-righteous- 
ness. Chrysostom refers to Gen. 3 : 22 and 
Psalm 50 : 12, as similarly ironical. Compare for 
significance of the entire passage John 9 : 39-41 ; 
ITim. 1:15; Rev. 3:17. To repentance. 
These words are not found here or in Mark in the 
best manuscripts ; but there is no doubt of their 
authenticity in Luke, and therefore no doubt 
that they are a part of Christ's response, and 
qualify and interpret his declaration. He comes 
to sinners that he may bring sinners to himself ; 
he does not conform to them, but conforms them 
to him by the renewing of their minds. His ex- 
ample is authority for social mingling with sin- 
ners, but not for acquiescing in or giving even 
tacit sanction to their sinful practices. These 
words, "to repentance," are the answer to the 
charge of Celsus (second century). " Jesus 
Christ came into the world to make the most 
terrible and dreadful society, for he calls sinners 
and not the righteous ; so that the body he came 
to assemble is a body of profligates, separate 
from good people, among whom they were be- 
fore mixed. He has rejected all the good and 
collected all the bad." 



Ch. 9 : 14-17. OF FASTING.— Thb cause of Chris- 
tian JOT IS THE PRESENCE OP CHRIST ; THE CAUSE OP 

Christian mourning is his withdrawal. — The jot- 
ousness op the religion op jesus ; it is a wedding 
peast. — True and false pasting. — The law op 
Christian reformation : entire, internal. — The 
new life cannot be patched upon the old; the 
new spirit cannot be contained in old forms. — 
the fermenting power of the gospel. 

This incident is recorded also in Mark 2 : 18-22 
and Luke 5 : 33-38, and in the same connection. 
No doubt it occurred on the occasion of Mat- 
thew's feast. 

14. The disciples of John, i. e., the Bap- 
tist. Luke adds "and the Pharisees." John 
the Baptist was in prison ; he was himself per- 
plexed by the course of Christ's mission (Matt, n : 
2, 3) ; it is not strange that his disciples felt ag- 
grieved that Jesus, instead of sorrowing and 
fasting over the national degeneracy that suf- 
fered the imprisonment of their master, should 
be feasting with publicans and sinners. Observe 
how, customarily, Christ left his sometimes enig- 
matical example to work out its own effect with- 
out explaining it, unless called on for an expla- 
nation. We and the Pharisees fast oft. 
Mark says they "used to fast ;" literally, "were 
fasting,' 1 '' which may mean that at this time they 
were observing a fast, with which the joyousness 
of Matthew's feast seemed incongruous. In 
addition to the fast of the Day of Atonement, 
prescribed by Moses (Lev. 23 : 26-32), the Jews had 
instituted several national fasts, chiefly to com- 
memorate respectively the several captures of 
Jerusalem by alien armies ; special fasts were 

alSO Common (Esther 4 : 15-17 ; Jer. 36 : 9 ; Joel 1 : 14) ; and 

the stricter of the Pharisees observed the fifth 
and the second day of every week (Luke is : 12) as a 
fast day, because on the fifth Moses was be- 
lieved to have gone up into Sinai, and on the sec- 
ond to have come down. Fasts were connected 
with their superstitions as well as with their 
religion ; they fasted to obtain auspicious 
dreams, or to secure the fulfillment of a dream, 
or to escape the fulfillment of an inauspicious 
dream, or to secure any desired object, or avert 
any threatened ill. This fasting was sometimes 
an absolute deprivation of all food, sometimes 
only an exclusion of all viands but those of the 
simplest and plainest description (Dan. 10 : 2, 3). 

15. Children of the bridechamber. The 
companions of the bridegroom, answering to our 
modern groomsmen. The wedding ceremonies 
of the Jews lasted often for days; the bride- 



Oh. IX.] 



MATTHEW. 



129 



garment ; for that which is put in to fill it up taketh 
from the garment, and the rent is made worse. 
17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, 



else b the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and 
the bottles perish : but they put new wine into new 
bottles, and both are preserved. 



b Job 32 : 19. 



groom, with the children of the bridechamber, 
went to the house of the bride, and brought her 
to the bridegroom's house, where a great feast 
was given ; the nuptials were always celebrated 
with great festivities and mirth ; and the Tal- 
mud, which forbade to eat, to drink or to wash 
the face on the Day of Atonement, made an ex- 
ception in favor of the bride. The simile used 
by Christ could not fail to recall to the disciples 
of John their toaster's use of the same simile 
(John 3 : 29), whom Christ thus cites, though indi- 
rectly, in answer to their question. The signifi- 
cance of the metaphor is unmistakable. Christ 
is the bridegroom ; the church is the bride ; the or- 
dained teachers in the church are the children of the 
bridechamber, who are instrumental in bringing to- 
gether bride and groom ; the whole period of time 
intermediate Christ's first public ministry and his 
second coming is the wedding-feast, during which 
the children of the bridechamber are bringing their 
Lord to the bride ; the marriage-supper of the Lamb 
in the heavenly kingdom is the final consummation 
of the wedding ceremony. There is significance in 
the fact that this metaphor employed in the O. T. 
to designate the relation between God and his 
chosen people is used in the N. T. to symbolize 
the relation between Christ and his Church (isa. 

54 : 5 : Jer. 3 : 14 ; Hosea 2 : 19, 20 ; Matt. 22 : 1-14; 25 : 1-13 ; Eph. 

5 : 30-32 ; Rev. 19 : 7). Mourn. Observe that, while 
John's disciples ask why Christ's disciples do 
not fast, he replies that they cannot mourn. 
Fasting is only the external symbol of mourning, 
or its natural expression and effect ; where there 
is no mourning, there is no virtue in fasting. 
Luke's report is : " Can ye make the child of the 
bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is 
with them?" i. e., Can you bylaws and regula- 
tions make them while in the period of their joy, 
fast in truth? Shall be taken from them. 
The first distinct intimation afforded by Christ 
of his own crucifixion. Its meaning can have 
been but imperfectly understood by either the 
disciples of John or by his own disciples ; but 
its pathos could not but have been felt. Shall 
they fast. Rather, will they fast ; it is not im- 
perative, but simply prophetic ; it indicates a 
fact, it does not embody a command. In fact, 
the disciples suffered no persecution while Christ 
lived, and neither knew any especial experience 
of mourning, prior to his passion, nor observed 
any seasons of fasting. Luther remarks on the 
two kinds of self-denial and suffering, the one 
which we inflict on ourselves (1 Kings is : as), the 
other that which God lays upon us, and to 



which we cheerfully submit (John is : n). There 
is no virtue in the first ; there is benefit in the 
second. 

What does Christ here teach respecting the obliga- 
tion of fasting? The laws of Moses prescribed 
many feast days and but one fast day. Christ 
himself prescribed no set fasts, and none were 
observed by the apostolic church. But occa- 
sional fasts were observed throughout the O. T. 

history by the JeWS (l Sam. 7:6; Neh. 1 : 4; Joel 2 : 12. 

Compare Isaiah 58 : 3-6), and jn the N. T. history both 
by Christ and his apostles (Matt. 4:2; Acts 13:2, 3; 
14: 23). Reading Christ's declaration in the light 
of this history, the plain inference from it ap- 
pears to be this : Fasting is the expression of 
mourning ; while Christ was with his disciples in 
the body, there was no occasion for mourning or 
fasting ; so when the soul is conscious of his 
spiritual presence, when the bridegroom is with 
the children of the bridechamber, they cannot be 
made to fast in reality and truth ; but whenever 
Christ has withdrawn from the soul, whenever 
times of darkness hide, or experiences of sin 
banish him from the soul, or the strong need of 
a clearer sense of his presence overcomes the de- 
sire for food, or a failure in his work indicates a 
lack of his presence and power (Matt, n : 21), then 
there will be fasting. In other words, fasting is 
Christian only when it is the natural expression 
of a Christian experience. "Fasting should be 
the genuine offspring of inward and spiritual sor- 
row, of the sense of the absence of the Bride- 
groom in the soul — not the forced and stated 
fasts of the old covenant, now passed away. It 
is an instructive circumstance, that in the Re- 
formed Churches, while those stated fasts which 
were retained at their first emergence from 
popery are universally disregarded even by their 
best and holiest sons, nothing can be more affect- 
ing and genuine than the universal and solemn 
observance of any real occasion of fasting placed 
before them by God's providence." — (Alford.) 

16. No man puts a patch of unfinished 
(unfulled) material upon an old garment ; 
for the patch tears away from the gar- 
ment and a worse rent takes place. The 
student will get the significance of the original 
in several particulars which may escape him 
otherwise, if he will compare this transaction 
with that of our English version. Garments in 
the East were made sometimes of leather, some- 
times of cloth. The leather which had not been 
dressed, and the cloth which had not been 
fulled, i. e., soaked and cleansed with water, 



130 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. IX. 



18 While he spake these things unto them, behold, 
there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, 
My daughter is even now dead : but come and lay thy 
hand upon her, and she shall live. d 

19 And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his 
disciples. 



20 And," 5 behold, a woman, which was diseased with 
an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and 
touched the hem of his garment ; 

21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch 
his garment/ I shall be whole. 

22 But Jesus turned him about ; and when he saw 



c Mark 5 : 22 ; Luke 8 : 41, etc d John 11 : 25 e Mark 5 : 25 ; Luke 8 : 43 f Acts 19 : 12. 



was sure to shrink, and if such undressed or un- 
tuned (not merely new) material was used in re- 
pairing a garment it would soon tear out the old 
cloth ; the consequence would be, not that the old 
rent would be made worse, but that a new and worse 
rent would be produced. Luke (ch. 5 : 36) puts it a 
little differently, see note there ; and he gives 
the reason of the new rent, "the piece that was 
taken out of the new, agreeth not with the old. ' ' 
The disciples of John the Baptist looked not for 
a new religion, but for a re-formation, a patching 
up of the old Jewish religion. To them Christ 
responds that he has come to give the world new 
garments, not to patch the old ones ; any at- 
tempt to attach his religion of the spirit of love 
to the old. religion of forms would be sure to 
make a worse state of things than that which he 
attempted to cure ; both because the old is old, 
worn out, and can bear no strain, and because 
the new is now, and has as yet, as it exists in the 
minds of the disciples, none of that flexibility 
which would enable it to adapt itself to the pre- 
judices and prepossessions of others. The spirit 
in the apostolic church which was offended and 
stumbled at eating meat offered to idols, repre- 
sents the old garment ; the spirit which could 
not yield, and for the sake of others abstain, 
represents the unfulled 

piece Of Cloth (Romans 14 : 

14, 16). It is true that 
the apostle sought to 
fuse these two factions, 
but by instructions 
which destroyed the 
factions and drove out 
the spirit of intolerance 
from the one, and of 
headiness or impatience 
from the other. In 
every religious refor- 
mation some have at- 
tempted to put on new 
patches on old garments ; e. g., John the Baptist, 
Erasmus, the Old Catholics of to-day. Let us 
beware lest, in our own souls, we attempt patch- 
work reformation. 

17. New wine into old bottles. The bot- 
tles of the East were and still are made of the skins 
of animals, the entrails being taken out, the form 
of the animal preserved, and the hair left on the 
outside. Hence the reference to wine bottles of 
the Gibeonites " old and rent and bound up " 




ANCIENT BOTTLE. 
(From a painting at Pompeii.) 



(Joshua 9: 4). "New wine " is wine not yet fully 
fermented. In its fermenting it expands and 
would thus burst the bottle. Establishing new 
truths in the hearts of men is always by a process of 
fermentation ; of excitement and agitation. To 
confine new truths in old forms only results In shat- 
tering the old. Note as examples the effect of Old 
Catholicism in Germany, and the ecclesiastical 
reformation of Henry VIII in England. "The 
new wine is something too living and strong for so 
weak a moral frame ; it shatters the fair outside 
of ceremonial seeming ; and the wine runneth 
out, the spirit is lost, the man is neither a 
blameless Jew nor a faithful Christian ; both are 
spoiled. " — ( Alford. ) 

The connection of these two verses with the 
preceding question about fasting is unmistak- 
able. Fasting was prescribed by the old dispen- 
sation and still more by the Pharisees as a law, as 
it still is by the Roman Catholics. Christ's sys- 
tem recognizes no other law than that of love ; 
and it cannot be patched on to one which makes 
a virtue of a fast. But here, as often, Christ 
takes occasion of a question which relates only 
to an external service to enunciate a principle of 
much broader application. In so far as the soul 
receives the spirit of Christ as a new inspiration, it 
will work out for itself a new expression ; it may 
use but it cannot be confined within old forms, 
whether of devotional expression or of doctrinal 
statement. 

18-26. Raising of Jaieus' daughter. Heal- 
ing OF WOMAN WITH ISSUE OF BLOOD. It is 

clear from the account here that these two mira- 
cles were wrought immediately after Matthew's 
feast. They are recorded in Mark 5 : 22-43 and 
Luke 8 : 41-56 as immediately succeeding Christ's 
return from the land of the Gergesenes, and his 
casting out of the devil there. It appears from 
their accounts that Jairus was a ruler of the syna- 
gogue, probably at Capernaum, that his daughter 
was twelve years old, that the first message to 
Jesus was that she was dying, and that after- 
wards a second message was sent him, while he 
was on his way to the ruler's house, to the effect 
that she was already dead ; the two being embod- 
ied in one message in Matthew's account, and that 
the father and mother of the girl, with Peter, 
James and John, went with him into the room, 
and were witnesses of her resurrection from the 
dead. The accounts in Mark and Luke also give 
details respecting the healing of the woman with 



Ch. IX.] 



MATTHEW. 



131 



her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort ; thye faith 
hath made thee whole. And the woman was made 
whole from that hour. h 

23 And' when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and 
saw the' minstrels and the people making a noise, 

24 He said unto them, Give place ; for the maid is 
not dead, k but sleepeth. And they laughed him to 
scorn. 

25 But when the people were put forth, 1 he went in, 
and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. 

26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that 
land. 



27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men 
followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David,™ 
have mercy on us. 

28 And when he was come into the house, the blind 
men came to him : and Jesus saith unto them, Believe 
ye that I am able to do this ? They said unto him, 
Yea, Lord. 

29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to 
your faith be it unto you. 

30 And their eyes were opened : and Jesus straitly 
charged them, saying, See that no man know" it. 



gLuke 7 : 50; 17 : 19 ; 18 : 42 ; Acts 14 : 9 h John 4 : 53 i Murk 5 : 38; Luke 8 : 51... j 2 Chron. 35: 25.. 

4: 33, etc m ch. 15 : 22 ; 20: 30, 31 n ch. 12 : 16; Isa. 42 : 2. 



.k Acts 20 : 10.... 1 2 Kings 



an issue of blood, omitted by Matthew. See for 
notes on the two miracles, Mark 5 : 23-43. 

Ch. 9 : 27-34. HEALING OF THE BLIND AND THE 
DUMB. — Christ the Light of the world (John 8 : 
12). He makes the blind to see (John 9 : 39). — Per- 
sistent FAITH FOLLOWS CHRIST DESPITE HIS SEEMING 

befusal to hear (Matthew 15 : 21-28). — The gift of 
God is to us according to our faith (Hebrews 11 : 
6). — True faith illustrated ; personal trust in a 
personal Saviour. — Silence for Christ is some- 
times as sacred a duty as speech. — He maketh the 
dumb to speak (Psalm 51 : 15). 

These incidents are peculiar to Matthew. 
Other cases of healing of the blind are recorded 
in Matt. 12 : 22 ; 20 : 29-34 ; 21 : 14 ; Mark 8 : 22- 
26 ; Luke 7 : 21 ; and John, ch. 9. Blindness is 
very common in the East ; the dust, the hot sun, 
the sleeping in the open air, are among the 
causes said to produce it. Trench quotes a 
" modern traveler " as reporting that there are 
four thousand blind in Cairo alone ; Volney says 
that out of one hundred persons he met in that 
city twenty were quite blind, ten wanted each 
one eye, and twenty others suffered from ophthal- 
mia. Blindness is not as common in Syria as in 
Egypt, but the references in the Scripture indi- 
cate that it was not infrequent (Lev. 19 : 14; Deut. 
27 : is). This is also indicated by the fact that it 
was prophesied respecting the Messiah as one of 
the signs of his character and mission that he 
should open the eyes of the blind (isaiah 29 : 18; 35: 
5; 42 : 7). There is nothing in the original to indi- 
cate the nature or cause of the blindness in this 
case. It is worthy of note that the cure was 
instantaneous and complete, so that the blind 
men apparently straightway went out from his 
presence to proclaim their cure ; whereas in all 
cases of natural cure the eyes must go through 
a long process of protection from extreme light 
which in their weakened state they cannot 
bear. 

27. And when Jesus departed thence. 
Possibly from the house, perhaps from Caper- 
naum, perhaps from that general region of coun- 
try ; the phrase is very vague and does not iden- 
tify the time or place of the cure. Crying : 
Rather, calliru] cUoud, as Bartimeus did (Mark 10: 



46,47). Son of David. A common appellation 
among the Jews for the Messiah (Matt, 21 : 9 ■, 22 : 42 j 
Ezek. 34 : 23, 24). Thus their appeal was a confession 
of their faith not only in his power to heal as a 
physician, or a prophet, but a distinct recogni- 
tion of his Messianic character. Have mercy 
on us. Physiological ailments were accounted 
among the Jews as an indication of and a 
punishment for special sin (John 9 : 2). The spir- 
itual significance of this cry is not to be pressed 
here ; nothing more is necessarily signified by the 
original than Have pity on us. Tet as disease is a 
fruit and a type of sin, so healing is a fruit and a 
type of divine mercy in the strictest sense of that 
term. The cry of suffering to God is always a 
cry for mercy as well as for pity. 

28. And when he was come into the 
house. Possibly, as Dr. Adam Clark, "the 
house of Peter at Capernaum where he ordi- 
narily lodged." But the phrase does not neces- 
sarily indicate any particular house ; "merely as 
we sometimes use the phrase ' the house ' as op- 
posed to ' the open air. ' ' ' — (Alford. ) Why should 
our Lord wait until he comes into the house be- 
fore he answers their prayer ? Chrysostom re- 
plies : " To repel the glory that cometh from the 
multitude. Because the house was near he leads 
them thither to heal them in private. And this 
is evident from the fact that he charged them to 
tell no man." Calvin, and so most of the com- 
mentators, that he may try the pertinacity of 
their faith, not only by his subsequent inquiry, 
but also by his seeming to withdraw from them 
without heeding their request. He thus also 
illustrates the virtue of that importunity of 
prayer which he subsequently enforces by his 
direct teaching (Luke 11 : 5-8; 18:1-9). He further 
sounds the depths of their faith by a question : 
Believe ye that I am able to do this ? 
In the light of the prophecies above referred to 
(note on ver. 26) this was again a question as to their 
faith in him, not as a mere prophet, but as the 
Messiah. " He did not say, Believe ye that 
I am able to entreat my Father, that I am able 
to pray, but that I am able to do this?" — (Chry- 
sostom.) 

29. He touched their eyes. He is never 



132 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. IX. 



31 But they, when they were departed, spread 
abroad his fame in all that country. 

32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a 
dumb man° possessed with a devil. 

33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake ;P 
and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so 
seen in Israel. 

34 But the Pharisees said, Hei casteth out devils 
through the prince of the devils. 

35 And' Jesus went about all the cities and villages, 



teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel 
of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every 
disease among the people. 

36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved 
with compassion on them, because they fainted, and 
were scattered abroad, as sheep 3 having no shepherd. 

37 Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest 1 
truly zs plenteous, but the labourers are few ; 

38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that 
he will send forth 11 labourers into his harvest. 



och. 12:22; Lake 11 : 14. ...p Isa. 35 : 6... .q ch. 12 : 24 ; Mark 3 : 22 ; Luke 11 : 15. 
Ezek. 34 : 5 ; Zech. 10 : 2. . . .t Luke 10 : S ; John 4 : i 



said to have healed the blind by a me"re word, 
but always, where any details are given, used 

SOme instrumentality (Matt. 20 : 34 ; Mark 8 : 23 ; John 9 : 

6,7). According to your faith be it unto 
you. The universal answer of God to all our 
prayers for spiritual blessings. He is ready to 
grant more than we can ask or even think ; but 
we can receive only in proportion as our faith is 
prepared to receive. "Faith which in itself is 
nothing is yet the organ for receiving every- 
thing. ' ' — ( Trench . ) 

30-31. Straitly charged. The original 
word occurs in Mark 14 : 5, where it is rendered 
murmured, and in John 11 : 33, 38, where it is ren- 
dered groan. He so charged them as to imply 
indignation if they disobeyed. Why should he 
have given this caution which was often repeated 

(Mats. 8:4; 12 : 16 ; Mark 1 : 34, 43, 44; 3 : 12; 5 : 43 J Luke 4 : 41 ; 

8 : 66) ? Was it because he himself in the spirit of 
his own precepts shrank from having his bene- 
factions blazoned abroad (Matt. 6 : 3, 4 ; Isaiah 42 ; 2) ? or 

was it that the faith of the people might not rest 
upon his miracles but upon the truth itself (Matt. 
12 : 39 ; John 14 : 11) ? since the faith that rested on the 
miracles wholly misapprehended his mission (John 
3:2; 6: 14, 15). See note on ch. 8 : 4. If this last be 
the true explanation, is it not a mistake for us to 
rest the evidence of Christianity so largely on 
miracles of which Christ made so little, instead 
of resting it on the truth itself, of which Christ 
made so much ? As to the course of the blind 
men in spreading abroad their cure, one may ad- 
mire, as the Roman Catholic writers do, their 
spirit of gratitude, without justifying their dis- 
obedience of Christ's command. The effect of 
this and other similar acts of others was to bring 
to him a crowd, not of appreciative hearers, 
anxious to hear the truth, but of mere wonder- 
gazers, curious to witness his miracles. Such 
popularity only impeded his work (Mark 3 : 20 ; 6: 31 : 

Luke 12 : 1, etc.). 

32-34. An instance of a miraculous cure, very 
similar, is recorded in Matthew 13 : 22-24 ; Luke 
11 : 14, 15, etc. The report of the accusation of 
the Pharisees, and of Christ's reply, is fuller 
there than here. Whether the incident is really 
the same or not is uncertain ; most harmonists 
regard it as different. For notes on the Phari- 
saic accusation, see on Matt. 12 : 22, etc. 



Ch. 9 : 35-38. PREPARATION FOR THE COMMISSION 
OF THE APOSTLES.— Christ's training of his disci- 
ples IS THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ; FIRST THE SER- 
MON on the Mount, then a missionary circuit. He 

EXEMPLIFIES THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY BEFORE HE 
COMMISSIONS THE APOSTLES TO IT. — In THE FIRST MIS- 
sionary work healing of the body and of the 
soul gjes together. — the condition of success in 
Christian work: "moved with compassion." — 
There were many rabbis, but no shepherds; 
there may be many religious teachers, but no 
true pastors.— Work for all in Christ's vine- 
yard ; NO ONE CAN SAY, " No MAN HATH HIRED US." — 
The real impediment to the spread of the Gospel : 
lack of Christian laborers. 

35. Cities and villages. A distinction sim- 
ilar to that which prevails in modern times be- 
tween incorporated and unincorporated towns 
existed in the time of Christ. The city proper 
was environed by walls ; a council of elders, and 
a government answering to the modern common 
council and mayor, administered the govern- 
ment ; there were night-watchmen ; lights were 
unknown, except torches carried in the hand ; 
there was usually no sewerage ; the houses were 
crowded close together ; the streets were narrow 
and unpaved. The villages were unwalled col- 
lections of huts of stone or mud. Nearly the 
entire population of Palestine was gathered in 
cities and villages as a protection against robbers, 
etc. After commissioning his disciples Jesus 
continued his ministry among the cities (Matt, n : i), 
while his apostles preached the gospels in the 
unwalled towns or villages (Luke 9 : 6), where the 
word "town" (zaifii/) is the same here translated 
"village." Healing every sickness, (vuoog), 
positive ailment ; and every disease (jiuXazla), 
weakness, want of health and vigor. Christ not 
only takes away our disease, he gives us health 
and strength. In the moral life weakness is 
sometimes the worst form of disease. Among 
the people. This is an addition not found in 
the best manuscripts. The language descriptive 
of this tour is almost identical with that em- 
ployed in Matt. 4 : 23. See note there for de- 
scription of the synagogue, and for references 
indicating the general character of Christ's 
preaching and miracles of healing. Observe that 
the commission of the twelve is preceded by a 
tour in which Christ exemplifies to the commis- 



Ch. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



133 



sioned apostles the nature of the work they are 
to do. This particular journey is generally char- 
acterized by the harmonists as Christ's third 
missionary circuit ; but there is no evidence that 
his ministry was divided in fact, or in the thought 
of the sacred writers, into any such definite cir- 
cuits. 

36. He was moved with compassion. 
This fact concerning our Lord is repeatedly stat- 
ed by the Evangelists (ch. 14 : 14 ; Mark 1 : 41 ; 6 : 34) ; 
and it affords, humanly speaking, the secret of 
his power. We get influence over the debased 
and ignorant only as they awaken a feeling of 
true compassion and yearning, rather than of 
resentment, distaste, and aversion. Observe, 
that his compassion was for publicans and sin- 
ners. " Christ pities those most that pity them- 
selves least : so should we." — {Matthew Henry.) 
Fainted. This is the correct translation of the 
received text (tzit/u.utvot), but the best authori- 
ties give another word {saxvifiBvoi), the proper 
translation of which is harassed. What moved 
his compassion was not their physical weariness, 
but their harassment and perplexity under the 
burdensome ritualism imposed on them by the 
Pharisees (Matt. 23 : 4-13, etc.). Scattered abroad 
as sheep having no shepherd. There were 
many scribes and doctors of the law, but no 
shepherd, no one who watched over and tended 
and cared for their spiritual welfare (1 Kings 22 : n ; 

Ezek. 34 : 1-6). 

37. The harvest truly is plenteous. 

" Mark how he points out the facility and neces- 
sity of the thing. For what saith he ? The har- 
vest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. 
That is : Not to the sowing, saith he, but to the 
reaping do I send you (John 4 : 38). And these 
things he said, at once repressing their pride and 
preparing them to be of good courage, and sig- 
nifying that the greater part of the labor had al- 
ready come." — {Chrysostom.) Observe, too, here, 
and yet more in John 4 : 35, the plain intimation 
that the impediment to the spread of the gospel 
is not the hardness of heart and unpreparedness 
of the world for it, but the lack of activity in the 
church. The harvest of souls is ready ; but 
there are either no laborers, or they lack the true 
spirit of Christ — are rabbis, not shepherds. The 
harvest is a frequent symbol in the Bible of 
Christian work. God is the husbandman (John 
15 : 1) ; the world is the field (Matt. 13 : 38) ; Chris- 
tians are workmen whom the Lord employs (Matt. 
20 : 1) ; souls are God's husbandry ( 1 cor. 3 : 9, and 
note) ; the true children of God are separated 
from sinners by a process of threshing and win- 
nowing (isaiah 21:10; Matt. 3:12); the end of the 

world witnesses the gathering of the grain into 
barns, and the destruction of the tares (Matt. 
13 : 30). Compare Psalm 126 : 5 ; Isaiah 9:3; 
1 Cor. 3:6; and especially Matt. 13 : 24-30, 34-73. 



38. Pray ye therefore, etc. "Though 

they were but twelve he made them many from 
that time forward, not by adding to their num- 
ber, but by giving them power." — {Chrysostom.) 
Observe that he who bids to pray sends forth the 
laborers, teaching us that we are to help to the 
answer of our own prayers. Observe, too, that 
he bids those that were to go forth pray for 
laborers ; pray, that is, that God would send 
them forth. Those only can labor successfully for 
God whom God sends forth. Compare for such a 
prayer Isaiah 6 : 8. Send forth. The original 
word (EZjiti/Uw) certainly generally carries with 
it the idea of force. It is rendered drive in Mark 
1 : 12 ; John 2 : 15 ; thrust, in Luke 4 : 29 ; put 
forth, in John 10 : 4 ; expel, in Acts 13 : 50. As 
the Holy Spirit uses a certain compulsion to 
bring sinners to Christ (Luke w : 23), so he impels 
Christian workers, against their first inclinations, 
into Christian work. So God impelled Moses 
(Exoti. 4 : 1, 10-n) ; so by a goading of the conscience 
and a divine vision he impelled Saul ; so by early 
persecutions he sent the early Christians out of 
Jerusalem, and scattered them everywhere, 
preaching the Gospel (Acts 8 : 4). Compare chap. 
10 : 23, and note. So in a sense we may say that 
no one is competent to preach, either publicly or 
privately, the gospel to others, who is not im- 
pelled thereto by the strong power of the Holy 
Spirit. Compare Ezek. 3 : 14 ; Acts 9 : 26 ; 1 Cor. 
9 :16. 



Ch. 10 : 1-42. THE MISSION OF THE TWELVE. 

Ch. 10 : 1-15. THEIR COMMISSION.— The weakness 
and the power op the apostles (2 cor. 4 : 7). — 
Christian work, like charity, begins at home (vs. 
5, 6). — The foundation op the Gospel : the king- 
dom OP HEAVEN IS AT HAND (V. 7). — THE WORK OP THE 

Gospel: healing, cleansing, LipE-GrvrNG, devil- 
conquering (v. 8).— The trust op the Gospel minis- 
try: God and the people. Their support: the 
voluntary contributions op their hearers (vs. 
9-13). — The sen op rejecting the Gospel is the most 
heinous op all sins (vs. 14, 15). 

The conflict between Christ and the Pharisees 
had already commenced. They had attacked him 
for breaking the Sabbath (Matt. 12 : 2, 10, 14 ; John 5 : 16), 
and for associating with publicans and sinners 
(Matt. 9 : 11), and accused him of casting out devils 
by the Prince of devils (Matt. 12 : 24). He had 
made several missionary tours through Galilee, 
preaching the Gospel and healing the sick. Prior 
to this commission are undoubtedly to be placed, 
not only the miracles previously recorded by 
Matthew, but also those of the raising of the son 
of the widow of Nain (Lake 7 : 11-n), and the heal- 
ing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda 
(John 5). He had also been mobbed at Nazareth 
(Luke 4 : 29, 30), and had already not only vigor- 
ously exposed the errors of the Pharisees in the 



134 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. X. 



A 



CHAPTER X. 

ND when he had called unto him his twelve dis- 
ciples, he" gave them power against unclean 



spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sick- 
ness and all manner of disease. 

2 Now the names" of the twelve apostles are these : 
The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his 



T Mark 3 : 13, 14 ; 6 : 7, etc. ; Luke 9:1, etc w Luke 6:13. 



Sermon on the Mount, but had denounced them 
and their hypocrisy before all the people (Matt. 12 : 
33-39 ; Luke ii : 37-54), and had preached the parables 
concerning the Kingdom of God recorded in 
Matt. XIII. Meanwhile his popularity among 
the people had only been increased by the oppo- 
sition of the Pharisees. Wherever he went 
crowds gathered about him thronging the streets 

through Which he passed (Mark 2 : 15 ; 5 : 24 ; Luke 7:11; 

8 : 45), crowding the houses he entered (Mark 2 ; 2), 
treading each other under foot in their eager- 
ness (Luke 12 : 1), breaking in on his sleep and meals 
(Mark 3 : 20), and following him on foot when he en- 
deavored to escape them by boat (Matt. 14 : 13). 
Without entering here into the reasons for placing 
this commission at a later date than appears to be 
assigned to it by Matthew, it may suffice to say- 
that it appears clear from Mark 6 : 7-14 that the 
commission was given, if not after the death of 
John the Baptist, certainly about the same time. 
Two reasons appear to have led to this commis- 
sioning of the twelve : first, the growing eagerness 
of the people to hear the news of the kingdom 
could not be satisfied by one preacher ; second, the 
growing opposition of the Pharisees made ap- 
parent the necessity of not only appointing but 
training men to preach Christ's Gospel when he 
should be slain. This commission was, however, 
for a purely temporary service, and the instruc- 
tions which accompanied it apply directly only to 
this single preparatory mission (see notes below). 
There is nothing in this chapter to indicate that 
the twelve understood that they were appointed 
to any permanent office in the church, or that 
there was any permanent apostolic office created, 
or even that they comprehended that a church 
of Christ would be organized to promote the 
kingdom of heaven after Jesus' death, much less 
that a succession was established for all future 
time. Other passages of Scripture (e. %. Matt. 28 : 
19, 20 ; Acta i : 13-26), taken in conjunction with the 
previous calling and present appointment of the 
twelve, seem to indicate that our Lord intended 
to confer upon them a quasi leadership in the in- 
fant church. Yet there are other indications 
that this leadership was not authoritative, such 
as the position of James, the Lord's brother 

(Acts 15 : 13 ; 21 : 18; Gal. 2 : 12 ; comp. Gai. 1 : 19), and that 

of Paul, both of whom are called apostles in the 
N. T. (i Cor. is : 9; 2 Cor. n : 5). The significance of 
these passages will be considered in due course ; it 
must suffice now to say that this chapter throws 
little or no light on the nature of the office 



and functions of the twelve in the church, as is 
evident from the fact that almost the same 
powers were conferred and almost the same 
directions given to the seventy (Luke 10 : 1-16). 

1. When he had called unto him his 
twelve disciples. The call and ordination of 
the twelve to be apostles had taken place some 
time previously ; in connection with it the Sermon 
on the Mount was delivered (Luke 6 : 13). The lan- 
guage here "his twelve disciples " indicates very 
clearly that they had already been chosen and set 
apart to the ministry. He gave them power. 
See on verse 8. 

2. The names of the twelve apdstlesare 
these. Of the twelve apostles there are four 
lists, the other three being found in Mark 3 : 16 ; 
Luke 6 : 14 ; and Acts 1 : 13. They differ in the 
following particulars. Luke in the book of Acts 
does not insert the name of Judas Iscariot, who 
was then dead ; both in his Gospel and in Acts 
he entitles the Simon who is here and in Mark 
called the Canaanite, Simon Zelotes ; Matthew 
gives as the tenth disciple Lebbeus ; Mark calls 
him Thaddeus ; Luke and Acts Judas of James ; 
i. e. either son or brother of James ; and Mark 
says that James and John were surnamed by 
Christ Boanerges, i. e., The sons of thunder. 
In other respects the four lists are identical, 
except that the names are given in a slightly 
different order by the different writers. They all 
agree, however, in putting Simon Peter first and 
Judas Iscariot last, and all agree in arranging 
them in groups of four, Simon Peter being first 
of the first group, Philip of the second, James 
the son of Alphseus of the third. There are 
three pairs of brothers among them, Andrew and 
Peter, James and John, James the less, and Judas 
or Thaddeus. James and John I believe to have 
been own cousins of our Lord. See note below. 
With the exception of Judas Iscariot all were 
Galileans ; several of them were by trade fisher- 
men, a laborious and profitable calling; they 
were all laymen, that is, there was neither priest 
nor scribe among them. They have generally 
been regarded as illiterate men (Acts 4 : 13) ; but by 
this must be understood, not that they were 
specially ignorant, but that they were not versed 
in the rabbinical literature, the scholastic theol- 
ogy of their age. Philip and Peter both appear 
to have been acquainted with the Greek. This 
is indicated by the application of the Greeks to 
Philip (join 12 : 20, 21) and by the fact that the epis- 
tles of Peter were written in Greek. Matthew 



Ch. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



135 



brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his 
brother ; 

3 Philip, and Bartholomew ; Thomas, and Matthew 
the publican ; James the son of Alphseus, and Lebbaeus, 
whose surname was Thaddeeus ; 



4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also 
betrayed him. 

5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded 
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and 
into any city of the Samaritans* enter ye not ; 



x 2 Kings 17 : 24 ; John 4 : 5, 9, 20. 



was a ready and methodical writer ; John evident- 
ly was a man of culture, as his writings show, and 
his social position was such as gave him ready 
access to the high priest's palace during the trial 
of Jesus (John is : i6) ; and there are unmistakable 
indications that several of the twelve possessed 
wealth or wealthy connections, for the father of 
James and John had hired servants, Peter appar- 
ently lived in his own house, and Matthew (Sen.) 
had the means to give a large party to many 

friends (Mark 1 : 20 ; Luke 4 : 38 ; 5 : 29). Several Of 

them, Andrew, John, Philip, probably Peter and 
perhaps Nathanael or Bartholomew, were dis- 
ciples of John the Baptist, and in attendance on 
his ministry first became acquainted with our Lord 
(John l : 36 ; 3T, 42, 44, 45, 49). I have grouped together, 
in a note at the end of this chapter, a brief ac- 
count of the information which the Scripture 
affords us of their individual lives. 

The first, Simon who is called Peter. 
In the lists of the apostles Peter is always named 
first in order ; yet it is certain that he was not 
the first to come to Christ, for Andrew his brother 
brought Peter to him (Johni :4o, 4i), nor is there 
any other indication that he was the oldest than 
such as may be thought to be afforded by the 
fact that he was married (Mark 1 : so), and that he 
was generally foremost as spokesman of the 
twelve. (See below. ) The precedence given to 
him, not only in the lists of the apostles but in 
the mention of him elsewhere in the Gospels, 

(Matt 17 : 1 ; Mark 5 : 37 ; 9:2; 14 : 33 ; 16 : 7 ; Luke 8 : 51 ; 9 : 28, 
and see references below), is One Of the grounds On 

which the Roman Catholic church bases its belief 
that Christ made him and his successors the visi- 
ble head of the church. Here and elsewhere the 
Scripture indicates that he possessed a certain 
pre-eminence among the twelve, but it affords 
no hint of an ecclesiastical or official supremacy. 
On the contrary, though foremost in the early 
history of the church as a preacher of great 
power (Acts 2 : 14, 4i), he was less an ecclesiastical 
leader than James the Lord's brother (Acts 12 :n ; 
15 : 13 ; 2i : is ; Gal. i : 19), who is not to be conf ounded 
with either of the twelve of that name (see note 
heiow), and less a founder and builder of the church 
than Paul, (see note on Matt. 16 : 13-20. ) On the place 
which the N. T. assigns to Peter, Alford's note 
is so admirable that I quote it entire. 
"We find Simon Peter, not only in the lists of 
the apostles, but also in their history, prominent 
on various occasions before the rest. Some- 
times he speaks in their name (Matt. 19:27; Lukel2:4l); 

7 



sometimes answers when all are addressed (Matt. 
16 : 16) ; sometimes our Lord addresses him as 
principal even among the three favored ones 
(Matt. 26 : 40 ; Luke 22 : 3) ; sometimes he is addressed 
by others as representing the whole (Matt, n : 24 ; 
Acts 2 : 37). He appears as the organ of the apos- 
tles after our Lord's ascension (Actsl : 15; 2 : 14:4:8; 
5 : 29) ; the first speech, and apparently that which 
decided the Council, is spoken by him (Acts 15 : 1). 
All this accords well with the bold and energetic 
character of Peter, and originated in the unerr- 
ing discernment and appointment of our Lord 
himself, who saw in him a person adapted to take 
precedence of the rest in the founding of his 
Church (Acts 5: 3, 9) and shutting (Acts 5: 3, 9) and 
opening (Acts 2 : H, 41 ; io : s, 46; the doors of the 
kingdom of heaven. That, however, no such 
idea was current among the apostles as that he 
was destined to be the primate of the future 
Church is as clear as the facts above mentioned. 
For (1) no trace of such a pre-eminence is found 
in all the Epistles of the other apostles ; but 
when he is mentioned it is either, as in 1 Cor. 9 ■. 
5, as one of the apostles, one example among 
many, but in no wise the chief ; or, as in Gal. 2 : 
7, 8, with a distinct account of a peculiar province 
of duty and preaching being allotted to him, viz. 
the apostleship of the circumcision (see Pet. i : i), 
as distinguished from Paul, to whom was given 
the apostleship of the uncircumcision ; or, as in 
Gal. 2 : 9, as one of the principal pillars, together 
with James and John ; or, as in Gal. 2 : 11, as 
subject to rebuke from Paul as from an equal. 
And (2) wherever by our Lord himself the future 
constitution of his Church is alluded to, or by 
the apostles its actual constitution, no hint of 
any such primacy is given, but the whole college 
of apostles are spoken of as absolutely equal. 
Matt. 19 : 27, 28 ; 20 : 26, 28 ; Eph. 2 : 20. Again 
(3) in the two Epistles which we have from his 
own hand, there is nothing for, but everything 
against, such a supposition. He exhorts the 
presbyters as being their co-presbyter (i Pet. 5 : i) ; 
describes himself as a partaker of the glory that 
shall be revealed ; addresses his second Epistle 
to them that have obtained the like precious faith 
with ourselves (2 Pet. 1 : i), and makes not the 
slightest allusion to any pre-eminence over the 
other apostles." 

5. These twelve Jesus sent forth. On 
the names, character and lives of the twelve, see 
note at the end of this chapter. And com- 
manded them saying. John gives no ac- 



136 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. X. 



6 But go? rather to the lost sheep 2 of the house of 1 7 And, as ye go, preach, saying," The kingdom of 
Israel. heaven is at hand. 



y Acts 13 : 46 z Ps. 119 : 176 ; Isa. 53 : 6 ; Jer. 50 : 6, 17 ; Eze. 34 : 5, 6, 8 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 25 a ch. 3 : 2 ; 4 : 17 j Luke 9:2; 10 : 



count of this discourse ; Mark (6 : 7-13) and Luke 
(9 : 1-6) present fragmentary reports of it. They 
were not apostles and were not present ; Mat- 
thew was, and his report is much the fullest. It is 
clear, both from the structure of the discourse 
and from Matthew 11 : 1, that it is no collection 
of our Lord's sayings uttered at different times, 
but a report of a single discourse delivered at 
one time and for a specific purpose. But similar 
precepts were given by Christ at the ordination 
of the seventy (Luke 10 . 1-6) which should be com- 
pared carefully with this discourse, and some of 
the aphorisms found here and there are found 
elsewhere in the Gospels. Apparently Christ fre- 
quently repeated certain proverbial expressions 
in his itinerant, preaching. Compare with verse 
14, Luke 10 : 11 ; verse 17, Mark 13 : 9 ; verse 24, 
Luke 6 : 40, John 13 : 16 ; 15 : 20 ; verses 29-31, 
Luke 12 : 6, 7, etc. Much of Luke 12 : 1-11 ap- 
pears to duplicate portions of this address. Com- 
paring the reports of the three Evangelists, the 
following features are found characteristic of 
the mission of the twelve. The apostles were 
to go in pairs (Mark 6 : 7), " for they were to be ac- 
customed to work in brotherly fellowship, and 
when difficulties arose one was to have the coun- 
sel and aid of the other " (Schenekel's Character 
of Jesus) ; they were to minister to both body 
and soul (verses 7 and 8) ; were to preach in the 
towns and villages while Christ continued his 

ministry in the Cities (compare Luke 9 : 6 with Matt. 11 ; 

1) ; were to preach only to the Jews (verses 5, 6) ; 
and in their ministry were to follow the example 
and adopt the habits of the ancient prophets 
(see note below). The discourses to them may be 
divided into three parts : first, their commission 
proper (verses 5-15) ; second, warnings of obstacles 
and persecution (verses 10-23) ; third, promises and 
encouragements (verses 24-12). The first comprises 
specific directions directly applicable only to this 
temporary mission, and part of them were sub- 
sequently declared by Christ inoperative in their 
later and wider ministry (see notes below) ; the second 
is more general, and applies to the Christian min- 
istry in all times of religious persecution ; the 
third appears to be universally applicable to all 
followers of Christ, whether engaged directly in 
the work of preaching the Gospel or not. The 
first part contains (a) the limitation of the apos- 
tles' missionary commission (verses 5-6) ; (6) their 
commission itself (verses 7, s) ; (c) their provision 
(verses 9, 10) ; (d) directions as to their methods 

(v.erses 11-15). 

Go not into the way of the Gentiles, 

i. e., into the Gentile territory. And into a 



city of the Samaritans enter ye not. The 

Samaritans were a mongrel race produced by an 
intermixture of Jews and heathen. Their relig- 
ion was a composition of the worship of the true 
God and of idolatry (2 Kings 17 i 24-41). The enmity 
of the Jews against them was intense (John 4 : 9), 
and their character and conduct were charac- 
teristic of an apostate race. (See note on parable 
of Good Samaritan, Luke 10 : 25-37, and on John 
4:9.) 

6. But go rather. The very form of this 
prohibition affords an intimation that it was not 
intended to be permanent. To the lost sheep 
of the house of Israel. Not to any particu- 
lar class of Israelites, but to the Jews, who were 
as sheep without a shepherd (chapter 9 : 36 ; 15 : 24 ,- 

John 10 : 16). 

What was the cause and what is the significance 
of this prohibition ? It certainly was not because 
Christ shared the prejudices of the age which 
caused the Jewish rabbis to forbid teaching the 

law to a Gentile (see to the contrary, Matt. 8:10-12; 28:19; 

Acts i:s); nor because any inherent necessity re- 
quired that the Gospel should be preached ex- 
clusively to God's chosen people before it was 
offered to the Gentiles, for Jesus had already 
preached it to the Samaritans (John 4 : 40) ; nor 
because he must by his death break down the 
middle wall of partition between Jew and Gen- 
tile before they could be made inheritors of the 
promise (Ephes. 2 : 14), for Christ before his death 
declared them to be sharers in the New Covenant 
(Luke 4: 24-27). Two reasons are apparent, though 
none are declared by Christ himself ; first, because 
if the twelve had begun by preaching the Gospel 
to the Gentiles they would have intensified the 
Jewish prejudices against it, and so closed the 
door to Jewish hearts ; second, because they did 
not themselves understand the universality of 
the Gospel until long after, and if they had at- 
tempted to preach it to the Gentiles they would 
have inevitably became preachers of the Jewish 
law, and made at best only converts to a reformed 
Judaism. The practical significance of the com- 
mand is that our work for Christ should begin 
with those nearest to us ; that we are to preach 
the Gospel to our neighbors and friends, and so 
test our capacity before reaching out with relig- 
ious ambition for a larger field of personal work 
among the heathen at home or abroad. But it 
affords no justification for refusing aid to those 
who have proved their capacity and have entered 
on the larger work. 

7. And as ye go. The ministry was to be 
an itinerant one. Preach, saying the King- 



Ch. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



137 



8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, 
cast out devils : freely 11 ye have received, freely give. 

g Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in 
your purses ; 



io Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, 
neither shoes, nor yet staves ; for d the workman is 
worthy of his meat. 

n And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, 



b Acts 8 : 18, 20 c Luke 22 : 35 ; 1 Cor. 9 : 7, etc d Luke 10 : 7, etc. 



dom of Heaven is at hand, i. e., draws 
nigh. Compare the following passages, where the 
Greek word (iyyC^o)), here translated at hand, is 
rendered draw nigh or come nigh (Matt. 21 : 1,34; 
Mark ii:i; Lake is : 25). The phrase Kingdom of 
Heaven first appears in the N. T., but this meta- 
phor is employed in the prophecies of Daniel (Dan. 
4 : 3, 34 ; 7 : 13, u), whence it passed into the rabbini- 
cal books, where it is used sometimes in a general 
and almost a scriptural sense to signify a state of 
complete and perfect submission to the divine 
will, sometimes in a more restricted sense to sig- 
nify that political reformation and national ex- 
altation which the Jews expected would follow 
the coming of the Messiah (see Luke 17 : 20 ; 19 :ii). 
The disciples were not directed to explain in what 
the Kingdom of Heaven consisted ; they were 
simply to proclaim that it was near. In this re- 
spect their preaching was to be patterned after 
that of John the Baptist (Matt. 3 : 2). It was 
their office in this mission not to instruct the na- 
tion, but simply to raise an expectancy, and so 
prepare the way for instruction which Christ af- 
terward afforded in his sermon at Capernaum 
(John 6), and which the apostles themselves were 
afterward directed to give to the Gentiles (Matt. 

28 : 19 ; compare 1 Cor. 2:2; Col. 1 : 26-28). It is not a law 

nor even a precedent for us ; but is it not always 
the first work of the preacher, whether lay or 
clerical, to awaken a spiritual appetite, even if it 
be not very intelligent at the beginning ? And is 
it not always to be done by proclaiming the 
kingdom of God as at hand, by making vivid the 
presence and power of God in nature and life, or 
awakening an expectation of his early coming in 
death and the judgment, or otherwise producing 
a sense of personal responsibility to God ? The 
immediate effect of this mission was to extend 

the fame Of JeSUS (Matt. 14 : 1 ; Mark 6 : 31). 

8. Heal the sick, etc. This command was 
accompanied with the conferring of power (verse i), 
the first bestowal of miraculous power on the 
disciples. In the call of the Seventy it led to a 
mistaken exultation which Christ corrected (Luke 
10 : 17-20). To those who see in the external acts 
of Christ's ministry a parable of his spiritual 
work, and especially in his ministry to the body 
a type of his ministry to the soul, it will not 
seem fanciful to trace that parallel here. The 
wise apostle of Christ will sometimes treat sin as 
a sickness to be cured (compare Gal. 6:1,2), some- 
times as a leprous pollution to be cleansed away 
(Acts 8 : 22, 23), sometimes as a spiritual death, the 



remedy for which is a spiritual resurrection (Eph. 
2 : 4, 5), sometimes as a possession of the soul by 
an evil spirit that must be cast out (Acts 13 : 10-12 ; 
19 : is, 19). He needs to exercise sometimes gentle- 
ness and long-suffering, sometimes the purifying 
power of loving-kindness, sometimes spiritual 
vehemence, sometimes courage in combat with op- 
posing evil. Christ healed his disciples of unworthy 
ambition (Mark 9 : 34-37), cleansed the woman that 
was a sinner (Luke 7 : 47, 48), raised Matthew from 
the dead (Matt. 9 : 9), and cast the devil out of Peter 
(Matt. 16 : 23). It should be added that the phrase 
" raise the dead "is omitted from some MSS., 
and placed in others before " cleanse the lepers." 
Freely ye have received, freely give. 
This clause properly belongs with the two verses 
following, and enunciates the general principle 
which they illustrate. Freely is here equivalent 

tO gratuitously (see Isaiah 51 : 1 ; Acts 8 : 18-23). It is Only 

as the minister, lay or clerical, receives from the 
Lord that he can impart in his name. As to the 
bearing of this verse on the question of free 
churches, see below. 

9. Provide neither gold. The articles 
referred to in this and the succeeding verses were 
the ordinary provision of travelers. They are of 
three kinds, money, food and clothing. Gold, 
silver, brass ; rather copper. Mark and Luke 
have in our translation the general term money ; 
but in the Greek, Mark has brass or copper, 
and Luke silver. All money in the East, in the 
time of Christ, was coined, and these three words 
embrace all coins ; the apostles were not to pro- 
vide themselves with money. Purses ; lite- 
rally belt or girdle. One end of the girdle was 
folded back so as to form a pocket : and it was 
used to carry money or an inkstand (Ezek. 9 : 2), a 
use to which it is still put in the East. 

10. Nor scrip. " A bag used for carrying 
food or other necessaries ; it was generally made 
of leather, and slung over the shoulder (1 Sam. 
17 : 40) ; a similar article is still used by Syrian 
shepherds." — (Kitto.) Mark and Luke interpret 
this direction by their phraseology, " no scrip, no 
bread." The apostles were to carry no food, and 
not even the traveler's bag or wallet in which to 
put such as might be provided for them. Nei- 
ther two coats, literally tunics. The tunic 
(Greek xircjr) was the inner garment, worn next 
the skin, usually with sleeves and reaching to 
the knees. It answered rather to our shirt than 
to our coat. Apparently two tunics were some- 
times worn, probably of different stuffs, by per- 



138 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. X. 



inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till ye go 
thence. 



sons of rank, wealth, or official station. To this 
fact John the Baptist refers probably in Luke 
3 : 11. In Mark 14 : 63, the high priest is said to 
have "rent his clothes," literally, "his tunics,' 1 '' 
indicating that he had on more than one ; and 
Mark, in his account of this commission, says, 
'■'■and not put on two coats'" or tunics. Neither 
shoes. Mark (ch. 6 : 9) gives the converse direction 
u be shod with sandals." "Shoes were of more 
delicate use ; sandals were more ordinary and 
more for service. A shoe was of softer leather ; 
a sandal of harder." — (Lightfoot.) The whole 
prohibition is aimed at luxury and delicacy of at- 
tire. Nor yet staves. The proper reading is 
neither a staff. According to Mark (ch. 6 : s) the 
apostles were allowed each to take a staff ; prob- 
ably the reading here has been changed to har- 
monize the two accounts. But no traveler would 
think of taking an extra staff. 
According to Mark they are per- 
mitted to take a staff, i. c. , the one 
which they already possessed ; ac- 
cording to Matthew they were 
not to provide staves for this jour- 
ney ; they were to go as they 
were, without any additional pro- 
vision. For the workman is 
worthy of his meat. Thisas- 
J[_ signs the reason for the prohibi- 
tion of special provision ; they are 
to be supported by those whom they serve. In 
the accompanying cut, from an Italian marble, a 
Roman peasant is shown, with his staff, and with 
his scrip or wallet slung over his shoulder. 

From these provisions in verses 9 and 10 re- 
garding the support of the twelve in this their 
first missionary tour, too much has sometimes 
been deduced respecting the support of the 
Christian ministry and their true method of 
operation. The commission was for a temporary 
service ; the requirements were adapted to the 
customs of society ; the apostles were east upon 
the hospitality of the people partly to try their . 
own faith, partly to try that of the people, and 
measure their readiness to receive the Gospel, 
partly because they thus conformed to the habits 

of the ancient prophets (l Kings n : 9; 2 Kings 4:8), 

and so assumed an office and position with which 
the people were measurably familiar. It is no 
more just to assume that the ministry must always 
be itinerant and without a settled support, than 
to conclude that they must not preach to the 
Gentiles, and must confine their preaching to a 
mere heralding of the coming of the kingdom of 
heaven (verses 5-7). In subsequent directions for 
their later ministry, Christ gave the apostles com- 
mands directly opposite to certain precepts here 




12 And when ye come into an house, salute it. 

13 And if the house be worthy, let your peace come 



(compare verse 5 with Acts 1 : 8), and his OWH practice 

did not ordinarily conform to the precepts here 
given, forbidding provision. The band had a 
treasurer, and usually carried both money (John 

12 : 6 ; 13 : 29) and provisions (Matt. 14 : 17 ; 15 : 34 ; 16 : 6, 7) J 

and Christ himself expressly declared later that 
these directions were not applicable in their sub- 
sequent ministry (Luke 22 : 35, 36) ; observe that the 
disciples were abundantly provided for by the 
hospitality of the people (Luke 22 : 35). But while 
wc shall miss the meaning of these precepts if 
we regard them as rules for the permanent govern- 
ment of the church, we shall also miss their 
meaning if we do not gather from them for our 
guidance the spirit and principles which underlie 
them. They certainly involve this much, viz., 
that (a), the ministry are to seek, as well as to 
save the lost, and therefore are to go after them ; 
(&), they are to give freely, and not make a mer- 
chandise of the Gospel ; (c), they are to avoid all 
ostentation in attire and luxury in food ; (d), 
they are to depend on the voluntary contribu- 
tions of the people for their sustenance, as did 
the O. T. priesthood to a large extent, and the 

O. T. prophets altogether (Numb. 18 : 20, 21 ; Deut. 

10 : 8, 9 ; is : 1, 2) ; and not on the acquisition of 
property by the church so as to render its min- 
istry independent of the people, as the Roman 
Catholic hierarchy do, nor on the support of the 
state, as do the ministry of all established 
churches ; (e), their dependence is that of a 
laborer who earns his bread, not that of a beg- 
gar who receives it as a gratuity. But whether 
the wages are paid in chance and occasional con- 
tributions, or in a permanent and regular stipend 
is a matter not determined here, nor, so far as I 
can now see, anywhere in the Scripture. 

11-15. These verses give further directions 
as to the method in which the apostles are to 
prosecute their mission now given to them. 
With these directions compare those given to 
the seventy reported in Luke 10 : 5-12. 

11. Who in it is worthy. For an interpre- 
tation of the kind of worth signified, see Acts 
13 : 46, 48 ; 17 : 11. It is not moral excellence, 
but a readiness to receive the Gospel message. 
In this sense Zaccheus, though a publican, was 
worthy to be a host of Christ (Luke 19 : 5, 9). Chry- 
sostom notes that Christ requires his apostles to 
exercise circumspection. They are not to trust 
to the hospitality of every one, but to enquire 
where they will be likely to find a welcome. 
There abide. They are not to go from house 
to house (compare Luke io : 7), lest the time that 
should be devoted to the preaching of the Gos- 
pel be frittered away in receiving hospitality and 
entertainment. A comparison of this direction 



Oh. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



139 



upon it : but if it be not worthy, let your peace return e 
to you. 

14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear 
your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, 
shake' off the dust of your feet. 

15 Verily I say unto you, Its shall be more tolerable 



for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of 
judgment, than for that city. 

16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of 
wolves : be ye therefore wise h as serpents, and harm- 
less' as doves. 

17 But beware' of men : for they k will deliver you 



e Ps. 35 : 13. . . .f Nell. 5:13; Acts 13 : 51 ; 18 : 6. 



ch. 11 : 22, 24. . . .h Rom. 16 : 19 ; Epli. 5 : 15 
k cii. 24 : 9 : Mark 13 : 9. 



.j Phil. 3 : 



with, the apostolic practice subsequent to Christ's 
resurrection (Acts 2 : 46, but see note there), aff ords a hint 
of the right and the wrong kind of pastoral vis- 
iting ; the right kind goes for the preaching of 
the Gospel, the wrong kind for mere social 
entertainment. 

12. And when ye come into the house 
salute it. Not the house that is worthy, but 
any house which they enter. They are not to 
stand on ceremony and the dignity of their office 
and await a welcome ; they are at once to offer 
the customary salutation. The ancient Jews, like 
the modern Mohammedans, did not salute one of 
a different religious faith ; but the apostles were 
not to wait until they had ascertained how they 
would be received before proffering their bless- 
ing. For form of salutation see Luke 10 : 5 ; and 
compare Numb. 6 : 23-26. 

13. Let your peace return to you. The 
prayer for blessing will receive no answer if the 
heart refuses to receive the blessing. Nor are 
the apostles to be disturbed in mind because of 
such refusal, still less to follow their rejected 
benediction with an anathema. Their peace is to 
return to them. "If your peace finds a shut in- 
stead of an open door in any household, take it 
back to yourselves who know how to yalue it, 
and it will taste the sweeter to you for having 
been offered, even though rejected." — (Br. 
Brown.) There is no peace like that which comes 
from bearing insult and wrong with sweetness 
and serenity. 

14. And whosoever shall not receive 
you * * * shake off the dust of your feet. 
Mark and Luke add by way of explanation "for 
a testimony against them.' 1 '' Compare Luke 10 : 11. 
The Scribes taught that the dust of heathen 
lands defiled those who came in contact with it ; 
accordingly it was a custom of the Pharisees, 
when they entered Judea from a heathen country, 
to shake off the dust of the land as a testimony 
that they had no part or lot with heathenism. 
The apostles, if rejected, were to turn from the 
city or house that rejected them and hold no fur- 
ther intercourse with it. It was to be to them as 
a Gentile city to a Jew. Compare Matt. 18 : 17 ; 
and see for illustration of this precept Acts 13 : 
51 ; 18 : 6. Is the Christian minister, then, to re- 
fuse all intercourse with and all second attempts 
to win those who reject Christ in the first presen- 
tation ? No ! because these are not rules for the 
permanent ministry, but for a specific and neces- 



sarily rapid mission, whose object was not so much 
to win souls as to awaken attention and prepare 
for a future ministry. On this point Chrysostom's 
homily is admirable ; I quote a single paragraph : 
"For I indeed oftentimes pronounce peace to 
you, and will not cease from continually speak- 
ing it ; and if, besides your insults, you receive 
me not, even then I shake not off the dust ; not 
that I am disobedient to our Lord, but that I 
vehemently burn for you. And besides I have suf- 
fered nothing at all for you ; I have neither come 
a lon<? journey, nor with that garb and that vol- 
untary poverty am I come, nor without shoes 
and a second coat ; and perhaps this is why ye 
also fail of your part." 

15. It shall be more tolerable for the 
land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day 
of judgment than for that city. Compare 
chap. 11 : 21-23, and Luke 10 : 13-15. Observe, 
first, that as there are degrees of guilt, so there will 
be degrees of punishment in the future world 
(Luke 12 : 47, 4s) ; and second, that the guilt of reject- 
ing the Gospel is marked by Christ as greater 
than that of moral impurity of life. Neither 
secular nor sacred history contains a record of 
immorality and vice more loathsome and flagrant 
than that of the cities of the plain (Gen. is : 20 ; 
19 : 4-13) ; but Christ pronounces a heavier woe 
against those that refuse the proffer of the Gos- 
pel, because the refusal to accept help out of sin is 
more fatal than any form of immorality, however 
grievous. 

Oh. 10 : 16-23. WORDS OP WARNING. The Chris- 
tian, like Christ, is a sheep among wolves (Isaiah 
53 : 7).— The Christian is in an enemy's country 
(vs. 17, 18). The danger in the first century was 
from open attack, in the nineteenth it is from 
treacherous ambuscade. — the christian's best 
preparation for threatened difficulty and dan- 
ger: the baptism of the holy spirit (vs. 19, 20). 
— a true inspiration is the perpetual heritage 
of God's people. — Tribulation in the world; 
glory beyond the world (vb. 21, 22; John 16 : 33). 
— Persecution is a wind that carries the seeds of 
truth on its wings (v. 23). 

16-23. In these verses Christ passes from the 
immediate and temporary mission to the future 
work of the apostles, and warns them of the dan- 
ger which their consecration to his service will 
involve. It is certain that these warnings are not 
exclusively, and it is doubtful whether they are 
even primarily, applicable to the immediate and 



140 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. X. 



up to the councils, and they will scourge 1 you in their 
synagogues ; 
18 And ye m shall be brought before governors and 



kings for my sake, for a. testimony against them and 
the Gentiles. 

19 But" when they deliver you up, take no thought 



1 Acts 5 : 40 ; 2 Cor. 11 : 24 m Acts, chs. 24 and 25 n Mark 13 : 11 ; Luke 12:11; 21 : 14, 15. 



temporary mission laid upon them in this dis- 
course. It is observable that these warnings and 
the subsequent encouragements are not found in 
the discourse to the seventy (Luke 10 : 1-16). Ob- 
serve that Christ always sets before the disciples 
the hazards and dangers of discipleship, and bids 
them count the cost before entering on their 
work. Compare Luke 14 : 25-36. 

16. Behold I send you forth. J, who give 
all power, both send and direct in what spirit and 
by what methods you are to execute your mis- 
sion. "In saying 'Behold, I send you forth as 
sheep, ' he intimates this, ' Do not therefore de- 
spond, for I know certainly that in this way more 
than any other, ye will be invincible to all." — 
(Chrysostom.) Observe Christ's tacit claim of 
power in this declaration, which is quite incom- 
patible with the humility which would belong to 
Jesus if he were mere man. Compare Isaiah 6 : 8. 
As sheep in the midst of wolves. " Not 
to the wolves, but in the midst of wolves, in order 
to seek out those who would receive the king- 
dom." — (Lange.) Yet the symbol is intended to 
teach, not merely their apparent helplessness, but 
their real power, "the unresistable might of 
weakness." "For thus shall I best show forth 
my might when sheep do get the better of wolves, 
and receiving a thousand bites, so far from being 
consumed, do even work a change on them ; a 
thing far greater and more marvellous than kill- 
ing them, to alter their spirit and to reform their 
mind ; and this being only twelve, while the 
whole world is filled with wolves." — (Chrysos- 
tom.) Christ himself was as a sheep among 
wolves. See Isaiah 53 : 7 ; and compare Psalm 
44 : 32 ; Rom. 8 : 36. There is possibly here a 
reference to the passage in Psalms. Has the 
church always been a sheep among wolves ? Was 
not the inquisition rather a wolf among sheep ? 
Be ye therefore shrewd as serpents and 
simple as doves. The Greek word (dxinamc) 
translated harmless, occurs also in Romans 16 : 19 
and Phil. 2 : 15, and probably signifies unmixed, 
simple, i. e. the opposite of a character in which 
many motives mingle and every act is complex, 
and the aims covered up and concealed. There 
is in this aphorism of Christ's a contrast in terms 
which the translators have endeavored to soften, 
and which the above translation but imperfectly 
renders. The serpent was among the Jews a 
common symbol of diabolical craft, while the 
dove was proverbial for its stupidity ; it was an 
Arab proverb, There is nothing more simple than 
the dove ; both conceptions are embodied in the 



O. T. Scripture (Gen. 3:1; Hosea 7 : n) ; and a proverb 
very analogous in words, but very different in 
application to that of our Lord's, is found in the 
rabbinical books: "Ye shall be toward me as 
upright as the doves, but toward the Israelites 
as cunning as serpents." The Christian worker 
is to combine these two contradictory qualities 
in his conduct toward all men. He is to be guile- 
ful like the serpent (2 Cor. 2 : 16) and guileless like 
the dove (1 Pet. 2 : 1, 21, 22). Of the wisdom of the 
serpent, Christ's replies to the Pharisees in the 
last days of his mission afford an example (Matt. 
22 : 15-46) ; the simplicity of the dove he exempli- 
fied during his trial (Matt. 26 : 63, 64). "These qual- 
ities are opposed to each other ; they never occur 
combined in nature, or in the natural disposition 
of man. But the spirit of Christ combines in 
higher unity these natural antagonisms. The 
serpent slips innumerable times from the hand 
of the pursuer [and catches its prey by guile, see 
reference above] ; the dove does not settle in any 
unclean place, it approaches him who is gentle, 
and will never do harm to the persecutor ; its 
safety lies in flying upward." It may be added 
that Christian virtue often consists in holding in 
even balance opposing qualities, either of which 
alone or in excess becomes a vice. 

17. But beware of men, i. e., of all men 
(verse 22), not merely of particular persecutors, but 
of the enmity of mankind. See below. Coun- 
cils. The local tribunals established in every 
town. Their origin is indicated in Deut. 16 : 18. 
They consisted, according to Josephus, of seven 
judges ; according to the rabbinical books, of 
twenty-three. See on chap. 5 : 21. Scourge 
you in their synagogues. In every syna- 
gogue there was a bench of three magistrates, 
who had authority to inflict certain punishments, 
of which scourging was one. "The number of 
stripes could not exceed forty (Deut. 25 : 3) ; whence 
the Jews took care not to exceed thirty-nine (2 Cor. 
11 : 24). The convict was stripped to the waist 
and tied in a bent position to a low pillar, and 
the stripes, with a whip of three thongs, were 
inflicted on the back between the shoulders." — 
(Smith's Bib. Diet., Am. Ed., Art. Punishments.) 
This punishment is not to be confounded with 
the Roman scourging to which our Lord was 
subjected under Pilate (Matt. 27 : 26), which was a 
still more dreadful infliction. For general ac- 
count of synagogues, see note on Matt. 4 : 23 ; 
for evidence of direct fulfillment of this pro- 
phecy, see Acts 5 : 40 ; 22 : 19 ; 26 : 11. 

18. And ye shall he brought before gov- 



Oh. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



141 



how or what ye shall speak ; for it shall be given you 
in that same hour what ye shall speak. 

20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your 
Father which speaketh in you. 

21 And the brother shall deliver up the brother to 



death, and the father the child : and the children shall 
rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put 
to death. 

22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's 
sake ; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. 



o Dan. 12 : 12, 13 ; Rev. 2 : 11. 



ernors, i. e., Roman officials, e.g., Felix (Acts, 
ch. 24), Festus (Acts, ch. 25), Gallio (Acts is : 12), Paulus 
(Acts 13 : 7). And kings, e.g., Herod Agrippa 
(Acts, ch. 26), and Caesar, i. e., Nero (Acts 25 : 12). For 
my sake. Compare Matt. 5 : 11, 12, and Acts 
5 : 41. For a testimony against them. 
Neither against them, as in our version, nor 
to them, as in some commentaries, but both 
against and to them (2 Cor. 2 : 15, 16). "It was a tes- 
timony in the best sense to Sergius Paulus (Acts 
13 : 7), but against Felix (Acts 25 : 25) ; and this dou- 
ble power ever belongs to the word of God as 
preached — it is a two-edged sword" (Rev. 1 : is ; 
2 : 12). — (Alford.) And the Gentiles, rather the 
nations. Compare Matt. 24 : 14, and for an illus- 
tration of the effect of the bringing of an apostle 
before the kings, see Phil. 1 : 12-18. 

19. Take no thought. Literally, be not di- 
vided in mind, i. e., between desire to be faithful 
to the truth and a desire to act prudently and to 
escape threatened evil. The Greek word here 
(ubqiuvikxi) is the same as that used in Matt. 6 : 25 ; 
see note there. Alford renders it, Take no anx- 
ious thought. Be not distracted, still more closely 
reflects the meaning of the original. Observe 
the qualification, " When they deliver you up," 
and the contrary direction, contrary in words 
though not in spirit, given to those disciples, the 
grounds of whose faith were inquired into, "Be 
always ready to give an answer to every man 
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in 
you, in meekness and fear " (1 Pet. 3 : 15). "As long 
as the contest is among friends, he commends us 
to take thought ; but when there is a terrible 
tribunal, and frantic assemblies, and terrors on 
all sides, he bestows the influence from himself, 
that they may take courage and speak out, and 
not be discouraged nor betray the righteous 
cause." — (Chrysostom.) This verse is best inter- 
preted by such practical illustrations as are af- 
forded by Acts 4 : 19, 20 ; 5 : 20-32 ; and see espe- 
cially Dan. 3 : 16-18. How or what ye shall 
speak, i. e., they are neither to be anxious con- 
cerning the matter nor the manner of their reply. 
Compare Romans 8 : 26 ; "for we know not what 
we should pray for as we ought." For it shall 
be given you in that same hour what ye 
shall speak. Even. irrespective of the more 
distinct promise of the succeeding verse, it is 
generally safer in time of threatened danger to 
trust to the intuition of the hour and speak 
boldly and simply the truth than to study an 
answer which by much thinking is apt to become 



an evasion. Mental distraction never inspires moral 
courage. That this verse should ever have been 
quoted as an authority for giving instruction in 
the principles of the Gospel without previous 
study and thought affords one of the most amaz- 
ing examples of the capacity of the mind to mis- 
interpret and misapply the truth. 

20. For it is not you that speak, etc. 
Compare Exod. 4 : 12 ; Jer. 1:7; Acts 4 : 8. 
And observe in the latter case how obedience to 
Christ's precept rendered the reply of the apos- 
tles a witness for Jesus to the Sanhedrim. (See 
verse 13.) The Spirit of your Father. The 
Holy Spirit, more explicitly promised in John 
15 : 26, 27. This promise here given does not 
imply the inspiration of the Scriptures, but it 
does necessarily involve the strongest possible 
assurance of a divine inspiration, i. «., of a divine 
influence acting upon and giving peculiar power 
to the heart and mind of the disciple. The care- 
ful student should combine here the note of 
Alford and that of Chrysostom. The first ob- 
serves that "in the great work of God in the 
world, human individuality sinks down and van- 
ishes, and God alone, his Christ, his Spirit is the 
great worker;" the latter notes that "from 
first to last part is God's work, part his disciples'. 
Thus, to do miracles is his, but to provide 
nothing is theirs. Again, to open all men's 
houses, was of the grace from above ; but to 
require no more than was needful, was of their 
own self-denial. Their bestowing peace was of 
the gift of God ; their inquiring for the worthy 
and not entering in without distinction unto all, 
was of their own self-command. Again, to pun- 
ish such as received them not, was his ; but re- 
tiring with gentleness from them without reviling 
or insulting them, was of the apostles' meekness. 
To give the Spirit and cause them not to take 
thought, was of him that sent them ; but to be- 
come like sheep and doves, and to bear all things 
nobly [and to abstain from distracting thoughts], 
was of their own calmness and prudence. To be 
hated and not to despond, and to endure, was 
their own ; to save them that endured, was of 
him who sent them." Observe, too, how the 
promised inspiration is characterized by the very 
form of the promise, "speaketh in you." It is 
not a divine dictation of words to the speaker, 
but a divine inspiring of his own natural faculties, 
so that the Spirit speaks not to the disciple, nor 
through the disciple, but in the disciple. Com- 
pare 1 Pet. 1 : 21. 



142 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. X. 



23 But when they persecute you in this city, fleer ye 
into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not 



have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man 
be come. 



p Acts 8 ; I. 



21. And the brother shall deliver up 
the brother, etc. Natural affection is not 
adequate to counteract the power of religious 
bigotry. No power for evil is greater than that 
of a corrupted and misdirected religious zeal ; 
none is more unscrupulous and cruel. 

22. Hated of all. For the reason why, see 
John 15 : 18, 19. For the Christian's answer to 
the world's hate, see Matt. 5 : 44. This verse, 
compared with such injunctions as Matt. 5 : 16, 
affords a striking illustration of the seeming 
contradictions of which the Bible is full ; but not 
fuller than life itself. Christian character com- 
mends itself to the consciences of men, but is 
hated because it crosses their self-interest, and 
rebukes, by its very purity, their sin. See for 
illustrations of good works that led men both to 
glorify God and to hate his disciples Acts 4 : 13, 
18 ; 5 : 28, 40. Chrysostom remarks on the com- 
bination of dangers of which Christ warned his 
disciples ; the courts of justice, kings, governors, 
synagogues of Jews, nations of Gentiles, rulers, 
ruled, their own kinsfolk, and finally the whole 
combined enmity of mankind. The spiritual 
power of Christ is exemplified in the fact that he 
could describe such dangers, and yet inspire the 
twelve with courage to go forth undaunted to 
meet them. Chrysostom' s practical application 
to our own times is also worth quoting and worth 
pondering, "What then must we deserve, having 
such high patterns, and in peace giving way to 
effeminacy and remissness ? With none to make 
war we are slain ; we faint when no man pursues ; 
in peace we are required to be saved, and even 
for this we are not sufficient." 

But he that endureth to the end shall 
be saved. Some of the commentators, among 
others Alford, SchafE and Owen, see in this 
promise a primary reference to the destruction of 
Jerusalem, the end being, in their view, the over- 
throw of the holy city, and the being saved the de- 
liverance referred to in Matt. 24 : 15-18. There 
appears to me to be nothing either in the context 
or in the parallel passages where this aphorism 
occurs, to warrant this view. The promise is 
simply the general one ; he who endures perse- 
cution until its completion, and so by implication 
until it has completed in the soul its work 

Of purification (Rom. 5:3-5; James 1 : 3, t), Shall be 

saved, i. e. ransomed and presented perfect be- 
fore the throne of grace. So Dr. Alexander in- 
terprets it. See for parallels Matt. 24 : 13 ; 13 : 
21 ; Ephes. 6 : 13 ; Hebrews 3 : 6 ; 10 : 23, 38, 39 ; 
Rev. 2 : 10, 17, 26. 

23. But when they persecute you in this 



city, flee you into another. It has been no- 
ticed that this implies a promise that they should 
find another provided, that they should not be 
without a refuge. In seeming contrast to this 
direction is John 10 : 11, 13 ; " the hireling fleeth 
because he is an hireling and careth not for the 
sheep." Wordsworth suggests the true recon- 
ciliation : " If a person has a flock committed to 
his care which will be scattered or torn by wolves 
if he flies, then he must not fly." Christ himself 
exemplified on more than one occasion the mean- 
ing Of the direction flee (Luke 4 : 28-30 ; John 8 : 59 ; 10 : 

39). Through obedience to it persecution became 
in the apostolic era an instrument for the spread 
of the Gospel (Acts 8:i ; 11 : 19). The same princi- 
ple in the later history of the church has wrought 
in the same way ; e. g., the flight of the Puri- 
tans from the persecutions of the Stuarts, and of 
the Huguenots from persecutions in France, led 
to the religious foundation which was imparted 
to the American colonies. Directly contrary to 
the spirit of this precept was the spirit of Chris- 
tians in the early church. The passion for mar- 
tyrdom became so great that men accused them- 
selves to receive the martyr's crown, or openly 
disturbed heathen worship for the same purpose ; 
and this singular fanaticism had finally to be re- 
pressed by the admonitions of the clergy, and 
even by a canon which refused the title of mar- 
tyrdom to those who sought it by publicly de- 
stroying idols. True Christian principle is quite 
compatible with true Christian prudence. 

For verily I say unto you. A common 
introduction to a peculiarly solemn affirmation. 
See note on Matt. 5 : 15. Ye shall not have 
gone over. Literally, Te shall not complete. But 
it is hardly possible to give to this the sense which 
Alford gives : ye shall not have preached the 
Gospel effectually. The meaning afforded by our 
English version is much the more natural. Dr. 
Owen paraphrases it, Shall not have finished 
passing through the cities to preach the Gospel. 

Till the Son of man be come. The 
phrase, Son of man, is used in the O. T. some- 
times to designate the descendants of Adam (job 

25 : 6 ; Psalm 144 : 3 ; 146 : 3 ; Isaiah 51 : 12 ; 56 : 2) and in Eze- 

kiel that prophet is addressed by this appellation 
about eighty times. In Daniel (7 : 13) it is applied 
prophetically to the Messiah, and in this sense 
alone is it used in the N. T. In the Evangelists 
the writers themselves never use it of Christ, 
but he uses it in describing himself, especially 
when speaking of himself as the Messiah (Matt. 

9:6; 11:19; 12:8; 13:41; 17:9,22; 24 : 27-30, etc.). It is 

also used elsewhere by third persons, but always 



Ch. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



143 



24 The disciplei is not above his master, nor the ser- 
vant above his lord. 



25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his mas- 
ter, and the servant as his lord. If they r have called 



q Luke 6 : 40 ; John 13 : 16 ; 15 : 20 r John 8 : 48. 



in speaking of him in his exaltation and manifest- 
ed glory (Acts t : 56 ,- Rev. 1 : 13 ; 14 : u). And the com- 
ing of the Son of man, wherever used in the N. T., 
prophetically signifies the disclosure of Jesus as 

the Messiah (Matt. 24 : 2?, 37, 39 ; 25 : 31 ; Mark 8 : 38 ; Luke 

17 : 24), but not always his final coming to judge 
the world (Matt. 16 : 28). It is evident that in this 
promise Christ cannot refer directly to his final 
coming in judgment, because he did not know 
when that event would take place (Mark 13 : 32). 
This much is clear ; but in the light of these facts 
the interpretation of this prophecy, Ye shall not 
have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of 
man be come, must be confessed to be difficult. 
The principal explanations are the f ollowing : 1. 
Before they had fufilled their task Christ himself, 
following them, would overtake them and be 
ready to give them future directions. So Chry- 
sostom, Lange, and apparently Alexander. But 
this does not agree with the universal usage by 
Matthew of the phrase "coming of the Son of 
man," nor with the facts in the case, for Christ 
did not overtake the apostles, but they returned 
to him (Mark 6 ; 30 ; Lnke 9 : io). 2. Before the work of 
effectually preaching the Gospel to the Jews, i. e. 
before the Jews were all converted, Christ would 
come in power and glory to judge the world. 
But he does not say before all missionary work 
is done, but before their work is done. The plain 
meaning of the promise is that it is to be fulfilled 
during their life-time. 3. Before their mission 
was ended the destruction of Jerusalem should 
take place, i. e. Christ should in his power by his 
providence come to judge the Jewish nation. 
This is the common view of most commentators, 
e. g. Alford, Brown, Bloomfield, Barnes, Owen, 
&c. It appears to me to be untenable. In no 
proper sense did the Son of man come in the de- 
struction of Jerusalem. It may be conceded 
that this national judgment was itself a pro- 
phetic symbol of the final judgment when the 
Son of man shall come in power and glory ; but 
the promise here made to the apostles of his 
personal coming to aid them in their mission, is 
not fulfilled by an event which is not the coming 
of the Son of man at all, but only a prophecy and 
symbol of that corning. 4. Before their preaching 
to the Jewish nation should be completed, Jesus 
should be revealed as the Son of man, i. e. as the 
Messiah, a promise which was fulfilled by his 
crucifixion, resurrection, and second spiritual 
coming to dwell in the hearts of his disciples. 
This is apparently the view of Lightfoot and 
Calvin. It appears to me to be the true one for 
the following reasons : (a) The Son of man did 



not fully come until his crucifixion and his resur- 
rection, which not only disclosed his Messianic 
character (Matt. 27 : 54; Rom. i:4), but also completed 

his MeSSiamC mission (Luke 24 : 26; John 12 : 31, 34; Acts 

17 : 3). (6) Not until then did or could he fulfill 
the promise of his second and spiritual coming 
to abide in the hearts of his disciples (John 14 : is, 
19, 21-23). That promise was fulfilled at the day 
of Pentecost by the descent of the Holy Spirit ; 
for the clearly marked distinction between the 
three persons of the Godhead belongs to a later 
epoch in theology, and Christ himself speaks of 
the coming of the Spirit and his own coming as 

all One (compare John 14 : 16, 17 with verses 18-23), and the 

apostles speak of the indwelling of the Spirit 

and Of Christ as One (compare Acts 4 : 8 with verse 13, and 
Gal. 5 : 6, 24 with verses 16 and 25, and see Rom. 8 : l). (c) It is 

after the disclosure of Christ as the Messiah by 
his resurrection and his second and spiritual 
coming, that the apostles begin to preach that 
Jesus is the Christ, that is, to declare that the 
Son of man, a Messiah, has come ; this forms the 
burden of their first preaching subsequent to the 

ascension (Acts 2 : 36 ; 3 : 18 ; 4 : 10-12 ; 8 : 5, and note 9 : 22 ; 

io ; 42), and the revelation made to them by the 
Holy Spirit of Jesus as the Messiah is recognized 
by them as a fulfillment of the prophecies of the 
O. T., respecting the Messiah's coming (Acts 2: 
16-21 ; 3 : io). (d) Finally it was not until after this 
spiritual coming of Christ, subsequent to his re- 
surrection and ascension, that the disciples made 
an end of preaching the Gospel to the cities of 
Judea and began to preach to the Gentiles. This 
promise, then, may be paraphrased thus : Go 
on ; fear not ; before your mission to the Jews 
(verae 5) is completed, the Messiah will be revealed 
and the Messiah's kingdom established : and this 
promise was fulfilled by Christ's passion, resur- 
rection, ascension and subsequent spiritual com- 
ing on the day of Pentecost, though in a manner 
very different from that which the disciples had 
anticipated. 

Ch. 10 : 24-42. CHRISTIAN ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
Christ's example the Christian's inspiration in 
suffering as in action (vs. 24, 25). — injustice suf- 
FERED HERE WILL BE SET RIGHT BT God's JUSTICE 
HEREAFTER (V. 26). — PEAR OF GOD CASTS OUT FEAR 

of man (v. 28). — God cares for his least disciples. 
God's greatness in little things (vs. 29-31). 
Earthly disrepute the road to heavenly honor 
(vs. 32, 33).— Forewarned is forearmed (vs. 34, 35). 
— Love easily carries all crosses (vs. 37, 38).— Self- 
sacrifice IS THE HIGHEST SELF-SERVICE (V. 39) — THE 

Christian's mission is Christ's mission (John 17 : 18), 
and the Christian stands in Christ's stead (v. 40). 



144 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. X. 



the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more 
shall they call them of his household ? 

26 Fear them not therefore : for 8 there is nothing 
covered, that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that shall 
not be known. 

27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in 



light : and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye 
upon the housetops. 

28 And fear' not them which kill the body, but are 
not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is 
able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

29 Are not two sparrows sold ior a farthing? and 



Luke 12 : 2, 3 ; 1 Cor. 4:5 t Isa. 8 : 12, 13; 51 : 7, 12 j 1 Pet. 3 : 14. 



The All-seeing sees, and the All-loving rewards 

THE LEAST SERVICE (vs. 41, 82). 

Verses 24-12 consist of aphorisms whose gen- 
eral purpose appears to be to encourage the dis- 
ciples in view of the warnings already given. 
They are more general than those warnings, and 
are applicable to all Christians and in all ages of 
the world. Several of them are repeated else- 
where ; and there is a close parallelism between 
this portion of the discourse and one reported in 
Luke 12 : 1-12. It is possible that Matthew may 
have collected here utterances really delivered 
at other times in Christ's ministry ; it is more 
probable that Christ repeated the same proverbs 
on different occasions. The connection in this 
part of the discourse is not so marked as in the 
preceding portions. It is indicated in the notes 
below. 

24, 25. The scholar is not above his 
teacher, nor the slave above his lord. 
* * * if the head of the house they 
have called Beelzebul, how much more 
the members of his household. The three 
relations in which Christ stands to his people here 
mentioned, are elsewhere brought out in Script- 
ure. He is teacher, and they learners (Matt. 5 : l ; 
28 : 7, 8 ; Luke 6 : 20) ; he is lord or owner, they serv- 
ants (Luke 12 : 35^8; John 13 : 13; Rom. 1 : 1; 2 Pet. 1.1; 

jude i) ; he is head of the household, they its mem- 
bers (Matt. 24 : 45 ; 26 : 20-29 ; Luke 24 ; 30). Compare f 01' 

the significance of the last metaphor, Hebrews 
3 : 6 with Ephes. 3 : 14, 15, in one of which 
Christ, in the other the Father, is described as 
head of the family. Observe how each of these 
metaphors interprets the other ; as teacher, 
Christ is lord, and speaks with authority (Matt. 
7 : 29) ; as lord, he is over friends, not slaves, and 
rules by love, not law (John 15 : 15) ; observe, too, 
how Christ's claim of supremacy depends, not on 
isolated passages, but is woven into the texture 
of all his teachings. Beelzebul, not Beelzebub. 
There is no account of Christ being called Beel- 
zebub, but the Pharisees referred his miracles to 
the power of Beelzebul, i. e., of Satan (Matt. 9 ■. 34; 
12 : 24 ; John 8 : 48). See notes on Matt. 12 : 24. 

20. Fear them not therefore ; for there 
is nothing covered — with slander, that shall 
not be uncovered — at the judgment day (Eccie*. 
12:14), and hid, of the true glory of Christian 
truth and Christian character (col. 3 : 3; l John 3 : 2), 
that shall not be known. "When Christ 



shall be manifested who is our life, then shall we 
also with him be manifested in glory" (col. 3:4; 
see note there). For the effect which this truth 
should have on those suffering from slander, see 
1 Pet. 2 : 23 ; 4 : 19. The connection with the 
preceding verse Chrysostom thus gives: "For 
why do ye grieve at their calling you sorcerers 
and deceivers ? But wait a little, and all men 
will address you as saviours and benefactors of 
the world — yea, for time [still more the disclo- 
sures of the last judgment] discovers all things 
that are concealed ; it will both refute their false 
accusations and make manifest your virtue." 

27. What ye hear in the ear. According 
to Lightfoot, the Jewish rabbis who explained 
the law in the schools in Hebrew, whispered their 
explanations to the ear of the interpreters, who 
then repeated them aloud to the scholars. There 
is, perhaps, a reference to this custom here. 
Preach ye upon the housetops. The Jew- 
ish housetop was flat. The ministers of the 
ancient synagogue on Sabbath eve sounded six 
times a trumpet to announce the coming in of 
the Sabbath. The Turkish crier calls to prayers 
from the housetop. Local governors in country 
districts cause their proclamations to be an- 
nounced in the same way, generally in the even- 
ing on the return of the people from their labors. 
The metaphor here is borrowed from, and illus- 
trated by, these uses of the housetop. Of 
Christ's whispering in the ear, see illustrations 
in Matt. 13 : 11, 18, 36 ; 16 : 20 ; of the disciples 
preaching on the housetop, see illustrations in 
Acts 2 : 6-11, etc. Christ speaks in darkness 
parables which the people do not understand, 
but which are subsequently interpreted to his 
disciples and thus to all mankind (Matt. 13 : 11, is, 36). 
He spoke in the ear, chapters 14, 15, 16 and 17 of 
John, which the evangelist has repeated by his 
Gospel in the light. He still, by the inspiration 
of his Spirit, speaks in the ear experience which 
his followers are to interpret publicly by life and 

WOrds (l Cor. 2 : 7-13). 

28. And fear not them which kill the 
body * * * rather fear him who is able 
to destroy both soul and body. Observe 
the double contrast, (1) between men whose 
power extends only to the body, and God, whose 
power endangers both soul and body ; (2) between 
man, who can only kill the body, beyond which 
comes the resurrection and the new life, and 
God, who can utterly destroy (Gr. unol'i.vu.i) both 



Ch. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



145 



one of them shall not fall on the ground without your 
Father. 

30 But" the very nairs of your head are all numbered. 

31 Fear ye not therefore ; ye are of more value than 
many sparrows. 

32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, 



him" will I confess also before my Father which is in 
heaven. 

33 But whosoever™ shall deny me before men, him 
will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. 

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth : 
I x came not to send peace, but a sword. 



. Acts 27 : 34 v Rev. 3:5 w 2 Tim. 2:12 1 Luke 12 : 49, S3. 



soul and body. As in several other passages of 
Scripture, there is an implication here that the 
punishment of the wicked is a true destruction, 
not a living in suffering. But it is only an impli- 
cation, and there are other passages which cer- 
tainly appear to teach otherwise. For a con- 
sideration of the whole question, see note on 
Matt. 13 : 50. I assume that Him whom we are 
to fear is God, as do most commentators, not 
Satan, as do Stier and some others ; for (a) It is 
not true that Satan can destroy either body or 
soul ; he has no power except such as God per- 
mits him tO exercise (Job 1 : 12 ; compare James 4:12); 

he is himself shut up in hell (Matt. 25 : 41 j Rev. 20 : 10), 
"does not destroy soul and body in hell, but 
before that time, and for the purpose of having 
them consigned to hell." — (Lange.) (6) The fear 
of Satan is but a sorry protection against the fear 
of man, but ' ' The fear of the Lord is the beginning 
of wisdom" (prov. 9: 10). (c) The context of the 
discourse calls for this interpretation. We are 
both to fear and to trust the All-powerful. See 
next verses. 

In hell. Gehenna. See note on Matt. 5 : 22. 
Dr. Owen concludes that Christ does not here 
speak of annihilation, "for the destruction spo- 
ken of takes place in Gehenna." But since the 
fires of Gehenna did in fact utterly consume the 
corpses of the criminals cast upon them, his de- 
duction is hardly warranted. On the other hand, 
the metaphor does not necessarily imply anni- 
hilation. That question of the true punishment 
of the lost must be determined by the teachings 
of other passages, or at least by a comparison of 
this with other passages. 

29. Are not two sparrows sold for a 
farthing-? The farthing (Gr. uaaaqlor) is a 
Roman coin which was equal to about a cent and 
a half in value. The word occurs in the N. T. 
only here and in the analogous passage in Luke 
12 : 6. The sparrow is a general term for a large 
variety of birds, of which there are known to be 
above one hundred different species. The cor- 
responding Hebrew term is generally rendered 
bird or fowl. It is in the O. T. a symbol of 
weakness (Psalm 11 : 1). The various species of 
sparrow are very numerous in Palestine. They 
are snared in great numbers and sold for food. 
The markets of Jerusalem and Joppa are said to 
be attended at the present day by many fowlers 
who offer for sale long strings of little birds of 
various species, chiefly sparrows, wag-tails and 



larks. It is to this snaring and sale of the spar- 
row our Lord alludes here. Without your 
Father. Observe he does not say their Father 
nor our Father, but your Father, i. e., without 
his knowledge and his permission (Luke 12 : 6). 
This verse certainly forbids the construction put 
by Stier upon the preceding one, that it is the 
devil who can destroy both soul and body. Not 
even the sparrow can fall to the ground by the 
power of the devil without permission of God. 
Observe that nature as strikingly illustrates 
God's greatness in little as in great things, a 
truth of which the microscope affords abundant 
illustration. 

30. But the very hairs of your head. 
A metaphorical expression to signify the minute- 
ness of God's care. Compare 1 Sam. 14 : 45 - r 
Luke 21 : 13 ; Acts 27 : 34. The lesson incul- 
cated is not only that God cares for us despite 
our insignificance, but also that he cares for us 
in respects that seem the most insignificant. 

31. Of more value. Compare Matt. 6 : 26, 
and note. This is God's answer to David's ques- 
tion : "What is man that thou art mindful of 
him, and the son of man that thou visitest him ?" 
(Psalm 8 : 4.) Observe, that nature inspires both 
question and answer : the stars the question, the 
birds the answer. 

32. 33. Every one therefore who shall 1 
confess in me. Observe the phraseology of the- 
original of which the above is a literal translation. 
The promise is to every one (nus) who confessed 
in Christ (iv m<n). It is not a mere public profes- 
sion before the church which is meant, for it. 
must be " before men,'''' i.e., as interpreted by 
verses 17 and 18, councils, synagogues, govern- 
ors, kings, in time of peril, when confession costs- 
something ; nor is it even every public profession 
before men which is meant, but a confession in 
Christ, i. e., such a confession as has its root in 
Christ, and shows a living union with him. Such 
a confession in Christ the apostles witnessed be- 
fore the Sanhedrim (Acts 4: 13), and such Christ 
himself witnessed in God before Pontius Pilate 

(l Tim. 6:13; compare John 18 : 37 ; 19 : 8, 11, 12). Christ alSO 

confesses in us ; that is, not only acknowledges- 
us his disciples, but shows himself in us and us 
to be in him (John it : si, 24). " The context shows 
plainly that it is a practical, consistent confession 
which is meant, and also a practical and enduring 
denial." The Lord will not confess the confessing 
Judas, nor deny the denying Peter."— (Alford.) 



14G 



MATTEIEW. 



[Oh. X. 



35 For I am come to set a man at variance? against 
his father, and the daughter against her mother, and 
the daughter in law against her mother in law. 

36 And 2 a man's foes shall be they of his own house- 
hold. 

37 He" that loveth father or mother more than me, is 
not worthy of me : and he that loveth son or daughter 
more than me, is not worthy of me. 



38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth 
after me, is not worthy cf me. 

39 He" that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he 
that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it. 

40 He c that receiveth you, receiveth me ; and he 
that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me. 

41 He d that receiveth a prophet in the name of a 
prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward ; and he that 



y Micah7: 5, 6....Z Pa. 41 .9.... a Luke 14 : 26.... b ch. 16 : 25.... c ch. 18:5; 25:40,45; John 12 : 44. . ...1 1 Kinga 17 : 10: Heb. 6 : 10. 



Observe how Christ here ranks himself with God 
in judging not with man in being the object of 
judgment. 

34. Think not I am come to sow peace 
on the earth. The metaphor is that of a hus- 
bandman sowing seed ; Christ's seed is a sword. 
Yet in the O. T. Christ is called a prince of peace 
(isaiah 9:6); bis birth is announced by the angels 
as a precursor of peace (Luke 2 : 14 ; compare 1 : 19) ; he 
bestows peace upon his disciples in his parting 
benediction (John 14 : 27) ; he declares that the 
peace-makers shall bear his own title and be 
called the sons of God (Matt. 5:9); and the peace 
of God is declared by the apostle to be among 
the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5 : 22). We are not to 
reconcile these passages by saying, with De 
Wette, that divisions were not the purpose, but 
only the inevitable result of Christ's coming, for 
"with God results are all purposes." — (Alford.) 
Christ comes to declare war against the devil 
and all his works (Ephes. 6 : 11, 12; 1 Tim. 6 : 12), and to 
bring peace only with victory. The first coming 
of Christ always brings war, whether to the indi- 
vidual soul or to the community. War is the 
stalk, peace the ripened grain. Romans 7 : 23 
depicts the sword, 7 : 25 and ch. 8, the peace. 
Compare Matt. 13 : 33, and note. 

35. For I am come, etc. This verse is 
substantially quoted from Micah 7:6; it is illus- 
trated by John 7 : 1-6. 

36. A man's foes shall be they of his 
own household. This declaration finds abun- 
dant illustration in the history of religious perse- 
cutions ; not less in daily life. Husbands, wives, 
parents, children are helps, but also often hin- 
drances ; the same one is sometimes a spiritual 
friend, sometimes a spiritual foe. Christ found 
foes in his warmest friends, Matt. 16 : 22, 23. 

37. He that loveth father, etc. * * * 
more than me. Compare with this the paral- 
lel passage, Luke 14 : 26. Observe that the test 
of love according to Christ is not emotional ex- 
perience, but obedience (John 14 : 21) ; hence this 
declaration is substantially embodied in Matt. 
5 : 24. No man can serve two masters. For illus- 
tration of loving Christ more than father or 
mother, see Matt. 4 : 21, 22. For parallel and 
illustrative teachings, John 21 : 15 ; 2 Cor. 5 : 14, 
15 ; Phil. 3 : 7-9. Is not worthy of me, i. e. 
to be called my disciples. Compare Ephes. 4:1; 
Col. 1 : 10 ; 1 Thes. 2 : 12. For he only is Christ's 



disciple who learns like Christ to sacrifice all for 
God. " Stier well remarks, that under the words 
'worthy of me,' there lies an exceeding great 
reward which counterbalances all the seeming 
asperity of this saying." — (Alford.) 

38. He that taketh not his cross. The 
Roman custom obliged the crucified to carry 
their own cross to the place of punishment. To 
this custom reference is here made. The mean- 
ing of the symbol is, whoever is not willing freely 
to deny himself, even unto death, and that the 
most painful and shameful, is not worthy of me. 
It is, of course, a prophetic reference to Christ's 
own death, a prophecy which, at the time, the 
disciples could have only imperfectly understood 
(John 12 : 16). Observe that it is not only cross-bear- 
ing but cross-taking that is required of the disci- 
ple ; not merely submission to burdens which 
God's providence lays upon them, but a volun- 
tary assuming of burdens, even the burden of 
death, for the sake of Christ and humanity. In 
slightly different forms this aphorism repeatedly 
appears in Christ's teaching (Matt. 16 ■ 24 ; Mark 10 : 21 ; 
Luke 9 : 23). Paul, by his use of the metaphor in 
Galatians (2 : 20 ; 5 : 24; 6 : 14), gives a partial inter- 
pretation to it. We take up our cross when we 
mortify the deeds of the flesh for the sake of the 
Spirit (coi. 3 : 5), or when we gladly suffer the loss 
of all things that we may be found in Christ (phu. 
3 : 8-10), or share his sufferings and self-sacrifices 
that we may minister to his suffering ones (Matt. 

25 : 35, 36). 

39. He that findeth his life shall lose it. 

Repeated in Matt. 16 : 25 ; Luke 17 : 33 ; John 
12 : 25. Not merely, he that finds the life of this 
world shall lose eternal life in the world to come, 
though this is implied in John, nor he that finds 
the lower earthly life shall lose the higher and 
spiritual life. The significance of the saying 
does not depend upon any such play on the 
word life. The aphorism goes deeper. All self- 
seeking is self-losing. Even in spiritual things, he 
who is perpetually studying how to secure joy 
and peace for himself loses it. A certain measure 
of self-forgetfulness is the condition of the high- 
est success even in Christian grace. Observe 
that finding implies seeking ; so that this proverb 
is not at all, He that gains this life loses the next, 
but, He that makes his own life the chief object 
of his endeavor and seems to succeed, really fails. 

40. He that receiveth you receiveth me. 




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Ch. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



147 



receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous 
man, shall receive a righteous man's reward. 

42 And whosoever snail give to drink unto one of 
these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name 
of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise 
lose his reward. 



CHAPTER XI. 

AND it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end 
of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed 
thence, to teach and to preach in their cities. 



The primary reference is to the twelve apostles 
in their commission ; the receiving is that referred 
to in verses 13, 14, receiving to the house with 
hospitality (compare Hebrews 13 : 2). Underneath this 
is a deeper meaning of wider application. He 
who receives the servant of Christ and his mes- 
sage in his heart, receives Christ ; he who opens 
his heart to Christlike influence from men, opens 
it, even though unconsciously, to Christ. Com- 
pare 2 Cor. 5 : 20. 

41. In the name of a prophet, i. e., as a 
prophet, because he is a prophet. The word 
prophet in N. T. usage signifies not necessarily a 
foreteller of events, but an inspired teacher of 
God. See illustrations of this truth in 2 Kings, 
ch. 4. The joys of Christ's kingdom are awarded 
according to the spiritual aspirations, not ac- 
cording to the intellectual abilities and actual 
achievements in work. If one, however humble 
his station, shows himself in his spiritual sympa- 
thy one with the prophets, he shall receive the 
prophet's place ; if, however imperfect his char- 
acter, he approves himself the friend of right- 
eousness, he shall receive the reward of right- 
eousness. Observe that that reward is a perfect 
character (col. i : 22) ; so that the promise is in- 
volved in Matt. 5 : 6. 

42. Whosoever shall give * * * a cup 
of cold water. "This he saith lest any one 
should allege poverty." — (Chrysostom.) It is 
never, even in our intercourse with each other, the 
largeness of the gift, but always the spirit which 
inspires the giver, which determines its value. 
It is not the service we render to Christ's cause 
or church, but the will to render it which Christ 
looks at. Compare Luke 21 : 1-4. In the name 
of a disciple, i.e., "because ye belong to 
Christ" (Mark 9: 41). To one of these little 
ones ; not, as De Wette, to the despised and 
meanly esteemed for Christ's sake; nor neces- 
sarily, as Alford, to children that may have been 
present ; but to one insignificant and unknown 
in Christ's kingdom in contrast with the inspired 



teacher and the well-known righteous man. It 
is explained by Matt. 25 : 40. Dr. Brown notices 
here "a descending climax — 'the prophet,' 'a 
righteous man,' 'a little one,' signifying that 
however low we come down in our service to 
those that are Christ's, all that is done for his 
sake, and that bears the stamp of love to his 
blessed name, shall be divinely appreciated and 
owned and rewarded." Chrysostom, on the 
other hand, notices the climax in the entire pas- 
sage, the connection of which he thus indicates : 
"Seest thou what mighty persuasions he used, 
and how he opened to them the houses of the 
whole world V Yea, he signified that men are 
their debtors, first by saying, The workman is 
worthy of his hire ; secondly, by sending them 
forth bearing nothing ; thirdly, by giving them 
up to wars and fightings in behalf of them that 
receive them ; fourthly, by committing to them 
miracles also ; fifthly, in that he did by their lips 
introduce peace, the cause of all blessings, into 
the houses of such as receive them ; sixthly, by 
threatening things more grievous than Sodom to 
such as receive them not ; seventhly, by signify- 
ing that as many as welcome them are receiving 
both himself and the Father ; eighthly, by prom- 
ising both a prophet's and a righteous man's 
reward ; ninthly, by undertaking that the recom- 
pense shall be great even for a cup of cold 
water." 



Ch. 11 : 1. When Jesus had made an 
end, i. e., for the time, had finished this special 
discourse. He departed thence. The local- 
ity is not fixed. The address was delivered 
during a journey in Galilee (Matt. 9 : 35). To 
preach in their cities. They preached in 
the towns or villages (Luke 9 : 6), that men should 
repent (Mark 6 : 12), basing their preaching on the 
announcement that the kingdom of Heaven was 
at hand (Man. 10 : -). Their preaching thus cor- 
responded to that of John the Baptist and the 
earlier ministry of Jesus (Matt. 3 : 2 ; 4 : n). 



THE TWELVE APOSTLES: THEIR LIVES AND CHARACTERS. 



For the convenience of the student, I embody- 
here very brief references to the Scriptural in- 
formation concerning the twelve apostles, and 
shall refer to this note in other parts of the com- 
mentary when their names occur. 

Simon Peter (rock). His original name was 
Simon or Simeon (Acta 15 : 14) ; he was born at 
Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee (John 1 : 44) ; with 



his father Jonas and his brother Andrew carried 
on the trade of a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee 
(Luke 5:3; John 21 : 3) ; was married, and his mother- 
in-law lived with him (Mark 1 : 29, 30) ; was origi- 
nally, with his brother Andrew, a disciple of 
John the Baptist ; joined Jesus temporarily at 
the ford of Bethabara (John 1 : 40, 41), where he re- 
ceived his new name of Peter (verse 42) ; he re- 



148 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. X. 



sumed his fishing, and was a second time called 
to follow Christ, which he did, with Andrew his 
brother, and with James and John (Luke 5 : 8-11). 
The healing of his mother-in-law followed almost 
immediately (Mark 1 : 29-31 ; Luke 4 : 38, 39). The sub- 
sequent incidents in his life indicate a warm, 
affectionate, impulsive but unstable character. 
He starts to walk to Jesus on the wave, but loses 
courage almost as soon as his feet touch the 
water (Matt, u : 28-30) ; impetuously refuses to let 
Christ wash his feet, and as impetuously offers 
his head and his hands (John 13 : 6, 8, 9) ; draws his 
sword to fight single-handed the Roman soldiers, 
yet turns and flees with the others when Christ 
surrenders to the band (John is : 10 ; Matt. 26 : ss) ; fol- 
lows Christ into the palace, but there denies with 
vehemence and oaths that he is a disciple (Matt. 
20 : 69-75 ; John is : 15, n, 26-27) ; is one of the first to 
baptize the Gentiles, then refuses to fraternize 
with them from fear of opposition in the church 

(Acts 10 : 47, 48 ; Gal. 2 : 11-13 ,• but compare Acts 15:7, etc.) Af- 
ter the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, 
Peter appears to have taken a leading position in 
the church, but as an orator rather than as an 
organizer or ecclesiastical leader (Acts 1 : 15 ; 2 : 14-41 ,- 
4 : 8). He traveled about in missionary work, 
taking his wife with him (1 Cor. 9 : 5), ministering 
to the Gentiles, and probably traveling as far 
east as Babylon (1 Pet. 5 : 13). If he ever visited 
Rome, which is uncertain, it was not until the 
later years of his life, and after the founding of 
the Christian church. According to tradition, 
he was crucified under Nero, with his head down- 
ward, and to this event our Lord is thought to 



refer in John 21 : 18. The personal friendship 
between himself and John, illustrated by many 

incidents (Luke 6 : 1-11 ; John 13 : 23, 24: 18 : 15, 16; 21 : 7 ; 

Acts 3 : l; 4: 13), is one of the most touching and 
tender of the minor episodes in Gospel history, 
all the more so from the incidental indication of 
the contrasts in their characters (john 20 : 3-9; 21 : 7). 

Anbkew {manly). A son of Jonas and brother 
of Peter. He brought the latter to Christ (John 
1 : 40-42), and with him was subsequently called by 
Christ to become a disciple, and later an apostle 
(Matt. 4 : 21 ; Luke 6 : u). The only other incidents 
respecting him recorded in the Gospels are those 
narrated in Mark 13 : 3, John 6 : 8, and 12 : 22, and 
these give little or no information respecting his 
character. After the resurrection of our Lord, 
he appears only in the list of apostles in Acts 
1 : 13. Tradition reports him to have preached the 
Gospel in Scythia, Greece, and Asia Minor, and to 
have been crucified upon a cross in the form of a X, 
which is called, accordingly, St. Andrew's cross. 

James (same as Jacob, i. e., Supplanter). He 
was a son of Zebedee ; his mother's name was 

Salome (compare Matt. 27 : 56 with Mark 15 : 40). He proba- 
bly resided at Bethsaida ; joined Jesus with his 
brother John at the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4 : 21) ; is 
never mentioned in the Gospels except in con- 
nection with his brother John ; was martyred 
under Herod Agrippa, a. d. 44 (Acts 12 : 2). There 
is reason to believe that he and his brother John 
were own cousins of our Lord. This opinion 
rests on the account given by Matthew, Mark, 
and John, of the women at the crucifixion. They 
describe these women as follows : 



Matt. 27 : 56. 



Mark 15 : 40. 



John 19 : 25. 



Mary, mother of 
Jesus. 



Mary Magdalene. 



Mary, mother of 
James and Joses. 



Mary, mother of 
James the less. 



Mary, wife of 
Cleophas. 



Mother of Zebe- 
dee's children. 



Salome. 



Sister of Jeans' 
mother. 



It is evident, from a comparison of these ac- 
counts, that Salome and the mother of Zebedee's 
children are the same ; that is, that Salome was 
the mother of James and John. It is a question 
whether the sister of Jesus' mother mentioned 
by John is to be identified with Salome or with 
Mary, wife of Cleophas ; whether, that is, John 
mentions two or three persons in addition to 
Mary, the mother of Jesus. If Mary, wife of 
Cleophas, were the sister of Jesus' mother, there 
would have been two sisters of the same name, 
Mary, which is not impossible, as Jewish records 
show, but is improbable. On the whole, I think 
the better opinion to be that which identifies the 
sister of Jesus' mother with Salome, the mother 
of Zebedee's children, in which case Jesus was 



own cousin to James and John. See note on 
Matthew 13 : 55. 

John (grace of the Lord). He was a brother of 
James, and of course is not to be confounded 
with John the Baptist. Several references in 
the N. T. indicate that his family was one of some 

Wealth and SOCial position (Mark 1 : 20 ; Luke 8:3; 23 : 55, 
comp. with Mark 16:1; John 19 : 27). He appears to have 

accompanied our Lord in his first ministry in Ju- 
dea, and he is the only one of the Evangelists who 
gives any account of that ministry. He is men- 
tioned frequently in connection with Peter and 
James as especially intimate with Jesus (Matt, n •■ 1 ; 
Mark 5 : 37 ; John is: 23) ; and of those three, he appears 
to have been the one most beloved of our Lord 

(John 13 : 23 ; 19 : 26 ; 20 : 2 ; 21 : 7, 20, 24). Of his personal 



Ch. X.] 



MATTHEW. 



149 



history subsequent to the crucifixion little is 
known. He went into Asia, exercised a pastoral 
supervision over the Asiatic churches, was ban- 
ished to Patmos, and probably died in extreme old 
age a natural death. Of his personal character 
much has been written, yet it is certain he has been 
greatly misunderstood. He was naturally im- 
petuous and ambitious (Matt. 20 : 20, 21 j Mark 3:17; 10 : 

35-37 ; Luke 9 : 54), and of all the apostles, he appears 
to have been the most courageous ; he alone of 
the Evangelists, apparently, accompanied Jesus 
in his earlier Judean ministry, since he is the 
only one who gives any account of it ; and he 
alone clung to him and followed him during the 
trial in the court of Caiaphas and before Pilate's 
judgment-seat ; this is evidenced by his narrative, 
which is unmistakably that of an eye-witness. 
His gentleness, patience, love, and spiritual ap- 
prehension of Christ's interior teaching, seem 
to have been the effect of Christ's personal influ- 
ence upon him. He was the beloved disciple, 
because of all the disciples he was the most 
docile and most ready to yield to and receive 
Christ's teaching and influence. See further on 
his character, Introduction to Gospel of John. 
We have, in the N. T., four books from his pen : 
one Gospel and three Epistles. 

Philip (warlike). He was a native of Beth- 
saida ; brought Nathanael, who was probably the 
same as Bartholomew, to Jesus ; and is generally 
mentioned in connection with Bartholomew. 
The only direct reference to him in the Gospels, 
except the mere mention of his name here and 
in other lists of the twelve, are in John 1 : 43-45 ; 
12 : 21, 22 ; 14 : 8, 9. Of his life and labors 
nothing else is known ; and the traditions re- 
specting him are conflicting. He is not to be 
confounded with Philip, the deacon, mentioned 
in Acts 6 : 5 ; 8 : 5-12, 26-40 ; 21 : 8, 9. 

Bartholomew (son of Thohnai). It is gene- 
rally thought by Biblical scholars that this apos- 
tle is identical with Nathanael. John alone men- 
tions Nathanael (John i : 45-49 ; 21 : 2), whom Philip 
brought to Jesus ; Matthew, Mark, and Luke do 
not mention him, but give the name of Bartholo- 
mew in connection with Philip. This fact, 
coupled with their otherwise singular omission 
of the name of Nathanael, and with the fact that 
Bartholomew is not properly a name at all, but a 
descriptive title, meaning son of Tholmai, have 
led to the hypothesis which identifies the two. 
It is, however, but an hypothesis, though cer- 
tainly a reasonable one. Nothing is known of 
his life or character, except what may be gath- 
ered from the above reference. 

Thomas (twin). This word is of Hebrew ori- 
gin ; its Greek equivalent is Didymus, and his 
name occurs in this form (join 11 : 16; 20 : 24; 21 : 2). 
He was doubtless a Galilean, but neither his 
parentage, birth-place, nor call are mentioned. 



There are but four incidents in his ]ife recorded 

in the N. T. (John ll : 16; 14 : 5; 20 : 24-29; 21 : 2). These 

indicate that he possessed an affectionate spirit 
but a skeptical mind. The earnestness and fidel- 
ity of his love was unaccompanied by a faith and 
hope at all comparable to it (John 11 : ie) ; he could 
not understand the "mansions" which Christ, 
after his death, would prepare for his followers 
(John 14 : 5) ; he refused to believe in his Lord's 
resurrection without tangible evidence (John 20 : 
24-29). Of his history subsequent to the ascension 
of Christ, nothing is known with any certainty ; 
the Syrian Christians, however, claim him as the 
founder of their church. 
Matthew (probably, gift). He is also called 

Levi (Luke 5 : 27-29 ; and see note on Matt. 9:9). He Was a 

publican, i. e. tax-gatherer and the son of Alphae- 
us (Mark 2 : u) ; but whether of the same Alphaeus 
mentioned in this history as the father of Jame6 
the less is uncertain ; most scholars think not. 
The name Alphaeus is a common one in Jewish 
records, and if Matthew were a brother of James, 
the two would probably have been mentioned to- 
gether, as are Simon Peter and his brother An- 
drew and James and his brother John. Of his 
life, subsequent to his call, the N. T. gives no 
information, except that his Gospel indicates 
that he accompanied Christ to the last. No re- 
liance can be placed on the traditions respecting 
his later history. 

James, the son of Alphaeus. His father's 
name is given by John as Cleophas or Cleopas, a dif- 
ferent form of the same word ; his mother's name 
was Mary (Mark 15 : 40), assuming, as I do from rea- 
sons Which Will appear elsewhere (see note on Brethren 

of our Lord on Matt. 13 : 55), that there are three persons 
of the name of James mentioned in the N. T., 
James the brother of John, James the son of 
Alphaeus, and James the Lord's brother, and 
that the latter was the author of the Epistle Gen- 
eral of James, nothing more is known concerning 
this James, who is generally in Biblical literature 
distinguished from James the brother of John 
by being entitled James the less. 

Lebb^eus (the meaning is uncertain). In 
Mark 3 : 18 he is called Thaddaeus, and it is prob- 
able that the addition here of the words, " whose 
surname was Thaddaeus," has been added by 
some copyist to harmonize the two accounts. In 
the lists given in Luke 6 : 14, etc., and Acts 1 : 13, 
neither Lebbaeus nor Thaddaeus appears, but in 
their place the name of Judas of James, which 
our translators interpret Judas the brother of 
James. This is, however, merely their interpre- 
tation, the word brother being added by them ; the 
better opinion appears to be that the proper in- 
terpretation would be son of James. This Jude 
or Judas, also called Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus, is 
by many critics regarded as identical with the 
Judas mentioned in Matthew 13 : 55, and as the 



150 



MATTHEW. 



2 Now" when John had heard in the prison the 
works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 



[Ch. XL 



3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, 
or do we look for another ? 



c Luke 7 ; 18, etc. 



writer of the epistle of Jude. While the ques- 
tion, like that of the possible identity of James 
the less with James the Lord's brother is beset 
with difficulties, I think the better opinion is that 
which considers that there were two persons of 
the name of Jude or Judas, one the apostle who 
is mentioned only in the lists of the twelve and 
is identical with Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus, the other 
Jude the brother of James the Lord's brother, 
and so the brother of our Lord (Matt. 13 : 55 ; jude, 
verse 1), and the author of the Epistle which bears 
his name. See Introduction and notes to that 
epistle. 

Simon (that obeys) the Canaanite. In Luke 
and Acts he is called Simon Zelotes, i. e. Simon the 
Zealot. He is not to be confounded with Simeon 
the brother of Jesus (Matt. 13 : 55, and note there). The 
Zealots were a faction of the Jews who were 
conspicuous for their fierce advocacy of the Mo- 
saic ritual ; their fanatical violence was one of the 
principal causes which led to the destruction of 
Jerusalem. Nothing is known of his life and 
character. 

Judas Iscabiot. The derivation of this name 
is uncertain ; it is probably Of Eerioth, a town of 
Judea (Josh. 15 : 25). In that case Judas Iscariot 
was the only Judean among the twelve, and this 
fact would afford a key to his enigmatical char- 
acter and career. His father's name was Simon 
(John 6 : 71). He followed Christ with the other 
disciples, received from him a commission to 
preach the Gospel, and apparently preached it 
endowed with the same power to " heal all manner 
of sickness and all manner of disease," was en- 
trusted with the funds of the little band, and ad- 
hered to Christ and his cause until the unmis- 
takable declaration of Jesus respecting his death, 
when he deserted and betrayed him. For a con- 
sideration of his enigmatical character and career 
see Abbott's Jesus of Nazareth, chap. 29, and 
notes hereafter, especially on chap. 27 : 3-10. 



Ch. 11 : 2-19. JOHN'S EMBASSY AND JESUS' DIS- 
COURSE ON JOHN. Quiet brings temptation to un- 
quiet souls.— The perplexity of the disciple to 
whom Christ is not clearly revealed: "Do we 
look for another ? " — the evidence of christian- 
ity, both in the soul and in the world : a work of 
dlvtne power, of drvtne healing, of dlvine love. 
—The best evidence is a present evidence ; what 
we do now hear and see. — christ is both a stum- 
BLING-STONE AND THE STONE OF THE CORNER (verse 6; 

Matt. 21 : 42, 44). — John the Baptist a true preach- 
er ; neither shaken by adversity, nor seduced by 
prosperity. — The glory of John the Baptist, the 
glory of the true preacher: a herald of the 



Lord. — The greatest in the O. T. dispensation is 
less privileged than the least in the new. — The 
Kingdom of Heaven is worthy of our enthusiasm. 
— The fulfillment of prophecy is in unexpected 
ways; the Jews looked for Elijah and behold 
John the Baptist. — The unwilling can always 
find an excuse for rejecting both the warnings 
and the invitations of the gospel. — there are 
many messengers, yet but one message ; many 
invitations, yet but one blvine lord. 

Of this embassy of John the Baptist to Jesus 
(vs. 2-6), and the subsequent discourse concerning 
him (vs. 7-19), there is also an account in Luke 
(7 : 18-35). It occurred apparently immediately 
after the resurrection of the son of the widow of 
Nain (Luke 7 : 11-17) ; and probably prior to the com- 
mission of the twelve ; for Herod beheaded John 
while the disciples of Christ were absent on their 

mission (Mark 6 ; 30 ; Matt. 14 ! 13). 

2. When John (Baptist) had heard in 
the prison. For an account of his imprison- 
ment, see Mark 6 : 17-20. For brief history of 
his life, see notes on Matt. 14 : 1-12. The prison 
was the castle of Machaerus, east of the Dead 
Sea. Next to Jerusalem it was the strongest for- 
tress of the Jews. "It is, as it were, ditched 
about with such valleys on all sides, and to such 
a depth that the eye cannot reach their bottoms." 
— (Josephus 1 Wars of Jews, 7, §§ 1,2.) Its ruins still 
exist. The citadel, an isolated and almost im- 
pregnable work, small, circular, and exactly one 
hundred yards in diameter, was placed on a sum- 
mit overlooking the city. The wall can be clear- 
ly traced. There are also remains of two dun- 
geons ; the holes where staples of wood and iron 
had once been fixed are clearly visible. See de- 
scription of the ruins in Tristram's Land of Moab. 
John, in this prison, heard of the works of Jesus 
through his own disciples (Luke 7 : is). Tristram 
supposes that John was confined in one of the 
above dungeons. But it is not probable that at 
this time his imprisonment was very close, for 
his disciples had access to him ; and Herod, who 
was educated in the Jewish religion, stood in awe 
of John as a prophet whom the people revered 

(Matt. 14 : 5). 

The works of Christ. Primarily of course, 
and chiefly, the miracles which Christ had 
wrought ; but the phrase may also here include 
those features in Christ's ministry which per- 
plexed the disciples of John the Baptist, such as 
Christ's not keeping any fasts (Mark 2: is). It is 
observable that it is said John had heard of the 
works of Christ, i. e. the Messiah, not the works 
of Jesus. It is the only place in Matthew where 



Oh. XL] 



MATTHEW. 



151 



4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew 
John again those things which ye do hear and see : 

5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, 
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are 



raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to 
them. 

6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended a 
in me. 



d Isa. 8 : 14, 15 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 22, 23 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 8. 



the name Christ stands by itself in lieu of Jesus 
or Jesus Christ, and it indicates that John recog- 
nized in those works an evidence of the Messiah- 
ship of our Lord, even though he shared with 
the disciples their perplexity at Christ's course. 
See note below. Two of his disciples. Some 
manuscripts have here by his disciples. The dif- 
ference is important only in its bearing on the 
question whether John sent to satisfy his own 
doubts or theirs. Luke says that he sent two, 
so that there is no question as to the fact. 

3. And said unto him. Observe that 
both here and in Luke (7 : 20), the message is 
represented as that of John the Baptist, not as 
that of his disciples. Art thou he that 
should come ? Literally, The coming one 
(Greek » io/dfisvog). The phrase is an unmistak- 
able reference to the Messiah, as to the one whom 
the prophets had foretold, and for whom the 
Jews looked. The same Greek word is used in the 
Septuagint in Psalm 118 : 36, and a different form 
of the same verb in Zech. 9 : 9. Compare Matt. 
10 : 23 and note. The question then is this : Art 
thou the Messiah long prophesied, for whom we 
have looked, or are we still to look for the ful- 
filling of those prophecies in the coming of an- 
other ? This is the common question of all dis- 
pirited and discouraged Christians. Has the Lord 
Jesus really come to me, or am I to look for 
some other experience of his coming ? And the 
answer is always that which the Lord makes here 
(verse 4). If your eyes see the truth more clearly, 
your limbs are stronger to run the Christian 
race, your disease of sin is even partly purged 
away, and you have begun to walk in newness of 
life, do not be disheartened because the kingdom 
of God comes without observation, nor look for 
another and more marvelous coming. In the soul, 
as in the world, God's work of love is best 
demonstrated by the fruits of love. 

4. Jesus answered and said. Luke says 
(7 : 21), "In the same hour he cured many of 
their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits ; 
and unto many that were blind he gave sight." 
Go and shew John again. The word again 
is not in the original. It is one of the illustra- 
tions of the need of a new translation of the Bible 
that the Greek here and in Luke is precisely the 
same {aoQt\)9tvtic unuyy tU.Xuri), but the English 
is quite different. In Luke the rendering is 
" Go your way and tell." Observe, they were to 
shew John, an indication that the doubt, which 
led to the question, was truly his. " Those 
things which ye do hear and see." Ob- 



serve that the truths heard, as well as the mira- 
cles seen, are included among the evidences of 
Christ's divine character and mission. For by 
this phrase what ye do hear, we are not to under- 
stand that they were to report rumors of mira- 
cles heard of by them ; such rumors John had 
already heard. They were to carry the testi- 
mony of their own observation. 

5. The blind receive their sight. "As 
the article is wanting in each of these clauses, 
the sense would be better perceived by the Eng- 
lish reader thus, though scarcely tuneful enough : 
1 Blind persons are seeing, lame people are walk- 
ing, leprous persons are getting cleansed, deaf 
people are hearing, dead persons are being 
raised." — (Dr. Brown.) The reference to the 
O. T. prophecies respecting the Messiah is un- 
mistakable ; see in particular Isaiah 35 : 5 ; 61 : 
1-3, and the application of the latter passage by 
Christ to himself in Luke 4 : 16-21. This is the 
principal, if not the only place in the N. T., in 
which Jesus Christ employs the argument from 
miracles directly in support of his mission ; and 
it is to be noticed that he refers to them, not to 
convince an opponent, but to strengthen the fal- 
tering faith of a friend. In John 5 : 36 and 10 : 38 
the appeal is not merely to his miracles (mj.ueror) 
but to works (tQyov), which includes much more. 
The argument is as potent now as it was in the 
time of Christ ; viz., the healing and evangel- 
izing power of the Gospel of Christ, not as it is 
reported to us from the past, but as we do hear 
and see its beneficent effects now. 

The poor receive good news. (Greek 
evuyyeXi<;ofiui). Our English version gives the 
true sense, but not as John would have appre- 
hended it ; for the Gospel, in the modern sense, 
dates from the death of Christ. Observe that it 
is characteristic of every revival of the Chris- 
tian religion that it proclaims the Gospel without 
money and without price, and therefore makes 
the poor full participants in its privileges. But 
the language here also embraces the poor in 
heart-life, all who suffer heart-hunger, the meek, 
the broken-hearted, the captives, the bound of 
Isaiah 61 : 1. 

6. Shall not be offended in me. Shall 
not be caused to stumble in me. Compare Mark 
14 : 27. See note on Matt. 5 : 29. Christ is a 
stumbling-stone, a rock of offence, to many, as 
he was to John the Baptist (Rom. 9 : 33 : 1 cor. 1 : 2.?), 
because his character and mission are lowly, and 
because he does not immediately accomplish the 
redemption of the world, or of the individual 



152 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XL 



soul. That he should be such a stumbling-block 
was prophesied by Jeremiah (6 : 21). John (see note 
below) shared the general expectation of an im- 
mediate and temporal reformation to be wrought 
by the Messiah. Christ's reply is well para- 
phrased by Andrews : "Blessed is he who shall 
understand the work I now do, and not stumble 
at it." 

John's embassy to Jesus. This embassy has 
given rise to some perplexity, and there are two 
principal interpretations of it. One supposes 
that John himself was in no doubt respecting 
Christ's Messianic character, but that his disci- 
ples were, and that he sent them to Jesus for 
the purpose of solving their doubts, selecting for 
that purpose two whose testimony would be 
conclusive to the others. In support of this 
opinion, it is argued that John the Baptist had 
repeatedly borne testimony to Christ's character 
as the divine Son and Lamb of God (Matt. 3 : 11, u ; 
John 1 ; 27, 29, 33, 34; 3 : 3o) ; that Christ, in his subse- 
quent discourse, expressly repudiated the idea 
that John was one easily shaken by stress of 
trial (verse 7) ; that he utters no word of rebuke, 
but much strong commendation ; and that while 
there are no other indications of a faltering faith 
in John, there are many that the disciples of 
John were skeptical respecting Jesus, and jeal- 
ous of his growing fame and influence (Matt. 9 : u ; 
John 3 : 25, 26). This view was generally entertained 
by the early fathers, who seem to have adopted 
it to exculpate the Baptist. Wordsworth, who 
reflects their opinions throughout his commen- 
tary, even declares of this embassy that "it was 
the crowning act of St. John's ministry." "He 
thus guarded against a schism between his own 
disciples and those of Jesus ; he bequeathed his 
disciples to Christ ; he had prepared the way for 
Christ in the desert, he now prepared it in the 
prison." But this opinion rests wholly upon con- 
jecture. The other opinion is that John was 
himself in perplexity, and sent his disciples to 
solve both his own and their doubts. This opin- 
ion accords best with the natural meaning of the 
narrative. The message came from John ; the 
answer is sent to him, not to them, "Go and 
shew John ; ' ' the message closes with a benedic- 
tion, which indicates that John was in danger of 
stumbling at the course of Jesus ; and the dis- 
course which follows is on the character of John, 
and gives no indication that the question was not 
truly his own. This view is entertained by nearly 
all modern commentators, and requires no con- 
jectural addition to the narrative to support It. 
Various attempts have been made to explain the 
cause and nature of John's doubts ; e. g., DeWette, 
Lange, and Dr. Schaff think the doubt was not 
respecting our Lord's mission, but his way of 
manifesting it ; Olshausen attributes it to the 
discouraging effects produced by imprisonment 



on John's mind ; Lightfoot, and, apparently, Dr. 
Brown, to his dissatisfaction at not being liber- 
ated from prison ; Matthew Henry, to the neg- 
lect of Jesus to visit him there ; Alford, and sim- 
ilarly Neander, to impatience at the slow and un- 
ostentatious course of our Lord's self-manifesta- 
tion, and a desire to impel Jesus to a public ac- 
knowledgment of his own character and mis- 
sion ; still others, referred to by Alford, to a 
doubt whether the one of whose miracles rumors 
reached him in prison was really the Jesus whom 
he baptized, and to whom he testified. All this 
is but matter of conjecture ; the sacred narrative 
is silent as to the Baptist's motives, and leaves 
us only in possession of the fact. Observe, how- 
ever, that his doubt is not distrust, for he sends 
to Jesus for its solution ; that Jesus carefully 
guards the people against the supposition that 
the temporary doubt really shakes his religious 
faith and character (verse 7) ; that similar experi- 
ences of perplexity at the course of God's provi- 
dential dealings are recorded of Moses (Exod. 17 : 4), 
Elijah (1 Kings 19 : 10), David (ps. 10 : 1), Jeremiah 
(jer. 12: 1, 2; Lam., ch. 3), and the unknown author 
of Psalm 77, written during the Babylonian 
captivity ; that it is not unnatural to suppose 
that John the Baptist shared the universal ex- 
pectation among the Jews and Christ's own dis- 
ciples of the temporal reign of the Messiah, and 
may, therefore, have been perplexed by the fact 
that there was no sign of the establishment of 
the kingdom of God in the nation ; that experi- 
ence of doubts are a peculiar temptation of ac- 
tive natures in times of enforced inactivity ; and 
finally that the result of this embassy was prob- 
ably to solve his doubts, certainly to put an end 
to the doubts and jealousies of his disciples. 
" The happy result of this mission is intimated 
in those touching words, ' His disciples took up 
the body of John and buried it, and came and 
told Jesus,' Matt. 14:12." — (Wordsworth.) Ob- 
serve, too, that Christ makes no direct answer, 
affords to John the Baptist no peculiar assurance 
or evidence, but leaves his faith to rest on the 
common evidence on which the faith of all the 
disciples is built. The moral of the incident 
thus interpreted is plain, viz. : that the strongest 
disciple is liable to incursions of unbelief ; that 
the true solver of doubts, in such times, is Jesus 
himself ; that he solves them by pointing us to 
those evidences of Christianity which are open 
to all — the beneficent works of this Gospel ; and 
that the argument from miracles is valid rather 
to sustain the faltering faith of the disciple than 
to compel the reluctant assent of a willing skep- 
tic. Compare effect of miracles on Pharisees, 
Matt. 13 : 14, 24. 

7-19. Discourse on John the Baptist. 
This discourse evidently followed directly the 
departure of the disciples of John. Whether 



Oh. XL] 



MATTHEW. 



153 



7 And, as they departed, Jesus began to say unto 
the multitudes concerning John, What went e ye out 
into the wilderness to see ? A reed shaken with the 
wind ? r 

8 But what went ye out for to see ? A man clothed 
in soft raiment ? behold, they that wear soit clothing 
are in kings' houses. 



9 But what went ye out for to see ? A prophet ? yea, 
I say unto you, and more than a prophet. 

io For this is he of whom it iss written, Behold, I 
send my messenger before thy face, which shall pre- 
pare thy way before thee. 

ii Verily I say unto you, Among 11 them that are 
born of women there hath not risen a greater than 



e Luke 7 : 24, 30 f Eph. 4 : 14 ; James 1:6 g Isa. 40 : 3 ; Mai. 3:1; Luke 1 : 76 h John 5 : 35. 



the subsequent portion of this chapter is a part 
of the same discourse is uncertain. See prelimi- 
nary note verses 20-24, below. Luke (7 : 29, 30) adds 
an account of the effect this discourse produced. 

7. As they departed. Christ utters no 
word of commendation of John while the disci- 
ples are present. " He would not flatter John, 
nor have his praises reported to him. * * * 
Pride is a corrupt humor, which we must not 
feed either in others or in ourselves." — (31a.tth.ew 
Henry.) What he has before said is in reply to 
the question of John, and is addressed to John's 
disciples ; what he now says is in reply to the 
thoughts of the people, lest they shall misinter- 
pret and misjudge the Baptist. But, as often in 
his sayings, the occasion becomes a text for spir- 
itual instruction respecting his kingdom. He 
begins with John the Baptist ; he ends with the 
privileges of the least in the kingdom of heaven. 
What went ye out into the wilderness to 
see ? The reference is to the earlier ministry of 
John the Baptist, when it is said of him that 
Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region 
round about Jordan, went out to him (Matt. 3 : 5). 
To see. Rather, to gaze upon. The original 
verb here is not the same as in the succeeding 
verse. A reed shaken with the wind ? The 
word reed is a general one, standing, as with us, 
for a variety of plants of a similar character. 
The Jordan abounded with these reed-like plants. 
In Scripture, the reed is an emblem of weakness 
(2 Kings 18 : 21 j Isaiah 42 : s). The contrast surely is 
not, as Alford interprets it, between a reed, or 
the banks of the Jordan with its reeds, and a 
man ; the former is employed as a symbol of a 
weak and wavering character, easily bending be- 
fore the storm of adversity. Because John has 
sent this message, the people are not to imagine 
that he is yielding to fear and persecution. John 
is "not a reed planted in the morass of a weak 
and watery faith, and quivering in the wind of 
doubt. Not a reed — but a rock." — ( Wordsworth.) 
The question requires no answer ; Christ gives it 
none. 

8. A man clothed in soft raiment ? Con- 
trast his real raiment (Matt. 3 : 4). Chrysostom 
gives the connection : ' ' He was not himself a 
waverer. * * * Much less can any one say 
this, that he was indeed firm, but having made 
himself a slave to luxury, he afterwards became 
languid." Behold they that wear soft 



clothing. Luke interprets and at the same time 
adds to this declaration : "Behold they which are 
gorgeously apparalled and live delicately.'''' "Had 
he been minded to wear soft raiment he would 
not have lived in the wilderness, nor in prison, 
but in the king's courts; it being in his power, 
merely by keeping silence, to have enjoyed honor 
without limit. ' ' — ( Chrysostom. ) 

9. A prophet ? All the people regarded 
John as a prophet (Matt. 21 : 26). Jesus thus ap- 
pealed to their public recognition of his charac- 
ter. Observe how our Lord begins by strength- 
ening and clarifying their appreciation of John 
as a prophet, and so establishing sympathy be- 
tween himself and them, as a preliminary to lead- 
ing them on to higher matters. The underlying 
thought is this : Te were attracted, not by an 
ardent, impulsive orator, easily swayed from his 
purpose by adversity, nor by any glitter of ex- 
ternal show, but by the moral qualities of a reli- 
gious and inspired teacher. More than a 
prophet. More — because himself the object of 
prophecy ; because the last in the succession of 
the prophets and the clearest in his prophecies 
of the coming King ; because he pointed out the 
Messiah whom others only foretold, and saw Him 
whom kings and prophets desired to see, but 
died without the sight (Matt. 13 : n) ; and chiefest 
of all because he was a forerunner as well as a 
prophet, and, as a herald, went before the Lord, 
preparing his way. For it was characteristically 
his office, not merely to foretell the coming of 
the Lord, but to bring about among the people 
a state of heart and mind which should make 
them ready to receive the Lord (Luke 3: 4; 7:29). 
See next verse, which gives the reason for the 
declaration in this. 

10. For. Equivalent here to because, and 
introduces the ground of the preceding assertion. 
This is he of whom it is written. The 
reference is to Malachi 3 : 1. Alford notes the 
change from the first to the second person ; in 
Malachi it is "the way before me;" here "thy 
way before thee;'' 1 and this change is preserved 
by all the Evangelists in their citations (Mark 1 : s ; 
Luke 7: 27). That Christ thus changes the lan- 
guage, "making that which is said by Jehovah 
of himself to be addressed to the Messiah, is, if 

SUCh Were needed (compare also Luke 1 : 16, 17, and 76), no 

mean indication of his own eternal and coequal 
Godhead." Alford's deduction is also note- 



154 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XI. 



John the Baptist : notwithstanding, he' that is least in 
the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now 
the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the 
violent take' it by force. 



13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until 
John. 

14 And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which* was 
for to come. 

15 He' that hath ears to hear, let him hear. 



i John 1 : 15, 27 ; 3 : 30. . . .j Luke 16 : 16 ; Eph. 6 : 11-13 k ch. 17 : 12 ; Mai. 4 : 5. . . .1 Rev. 2 : 7, etc. 



worthy : "If John was thus great above all 
others, because he was the forerunner of Christ, 
how above all prophets and holy men of old must 
Christ himself be." Behold I send my mes- 
senger. Observe that John attributes to him- 
self the humbler prophecy which designates him 
as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness " 
(John 1:23), while Christ designates him as "my 
messenger." The contrast illustrates Luke 
14 : 11. Prepare thy way before thee. See 
note on Matt. 3 : 3. 

11. There hath not risen a greater than 
John the Baptist ; notwithstanding, he 
that is least in the kingdom of heaven 
is greater than he. This is the climax in the 
ascending scale, for which the preceding verses 
have been a preparation. John the Baptist is 
more than a mere impetuous orator, fickle- 
minded and easily swayed by storm, more than a 
king gorgeously appareled, more than a prophet, 
yea, greatest of men, yet the least in my kingdom 
is greater than he. The object of the whole dis- 
course is to lead up the mind to an appreciation 
of the greatness of this kingdom and those who 
are in it. On the meaning of the phrase king- 
dom of heaven, see Matt. 3 : 2. Observe, 
that there John is represented as preaching, not 
in the kingdom, but as a herald who precedes it. 
Here, as there, the phrase points to the advent of 
the Messiah as King and Lord, and the inaugu- 
ration of Christ's kingdom by his crucifixion. 

What is meant by " least in the kingdom of 
heaven?" Chrysostom and many of the fathers 
understand Christ himself. "Less in age and 
according to the opinion of the multitude," says 
Chrysostom, referring to verse 19, and to chap- 
ter 13 : 55. Wordsworth revives this opinion, 
which is now generally abandoned, which cer- 
tainly the plain reader would never attach to 
the words, and which is indefensible, because, 
(a,) Christ is never spoken of in the N. T. as in 
the kingdom of heaven, but rather as its Lord 
and King; (6,) the words "little" and "least" 
(Gr. iny.Qog, fiixootcnoc) applied to the kingdom 
of heaven have a well-defined meaning in N. T. 
usage = to humble in position, authority and in- 
fluence (Matt. 10 : 42 ; 18 : 6, 10, 14; Mark 9 : 42 ; Lake 9 : 48 ; 
17 : 2 ; compare Matt. 13 : 32, and Acts 8 : 10) ; it is Only in 

Mark 15 : 40, "James the Less," that the word 
bears the meaning of younger. The key to the 
interpretation is given by Maldonatus, quoted by 
Wordsworth and Alford: "The least of the 
greatest is greater than the greatest of the least." 



It is here not greater in personal character, nor 
in eternal condition, but in present privilege, pre- 
rogative, station, as the least child is greater 
than the highest servant. John was a servant, 

We are SOnS Of God (Gal. 4:7; compare John 15 : 15). 

There is a significance, too, in the language used 
here, "born of women." Whoever enters the 
kingdom of heaven is born of the Holy Ghost 
(John 3 : 5). Alford embodies the contrast well. 
"John not inferior to any that are born of 
women ; but these, even the least of them, are 
born of another birth. John, the nearest to the 
King and kingdom, but never having himself 
entered ; these in the kingdom, subjects and 
citizens and indwellers of the realm ; He the 
friend of the Bridegroom ; they, however weak 
and unworthy, his Body and his Spouse." Ob- 
serve, that Paul calls himself " least of the apos- 
tles" (l Cor. 15:9). 

12. And from the days of John the 
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven 
suffereth violence, etc. The metaphor is 
that of a city to which long siege has been laid, 
and into which at last the victorious troops pour 
joyfully, seizing on it as their prey. The preach- 
ing of John the Baptist inaugurated the new dis- 
pensation, in which the poor had the Gospel 
preached unto them. Crowds thronged to hear 
him, as now they were thronging to hear Christ, 
eager to seize hold of the kingdom which both 
John and Jesus declared to be at hand. There 
was no such eagerness to lay hold on the preach- 
ing of the Scribes ; this very contrast was an evi- 
dence that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, 
and it dated from the advent of John, who was 
thus pointed out as the messenger sent before 
the Lord (verse 10), the Elias that was for to come 
(verse 14). Other interpretations have been pro- 
posed, as, (a,) that the kingdom of heaven forces 
itself on others, breaks in upon them with vio- 
lence, an interpretation explained by Joel 2 : 
28-32, and Acts 2 : 16-21 ; (6,) it is forcibly re- 
sisted, and thus suffers violence; e.g., at the 
hand of the Pharisees ; (c,) it yields only to a 
quasi violence, a spiritual resoluteness and im- 
portunity, as implied in Luke 14 : 25-33. Either 
of these interpretations is grammatically defensi- 
ble ; the one I have given alone agrees with the 
context, and is now generally adopted. Observe 
in this metaphor thus interpreted, a justification 
of intense enthusiasm in the religious life. Com- 
pare for spiritual interpretation 2 Cor. 7 : 11. 

13. For all the prophets and the law 



Ch. XI.] 



MATTHEW. 



155 



16 But™ whereunto shall I liken this generation ? It 
is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling 
unto their fellows. 



17 And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye 
have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye 
have not lamented. 



m Luke 7 : 31. 



prophesied until John. That is, until John 
the whole dispensation was typical and prophetic ; 
he introduced the new dispensation, that of ful- 
fillment ; for, 

14. This is Elijah which was for to 
come, i. e. he fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi 
4:5: " Behold I will send you Elijah the proph- 
et before the coming of the great and dreadful 
day of the Lord." How he fulfilled it is ex- 
plained in Luke 1 : 17 ; he came "in the spirit 
and power of Elijah." That John the Baptist 
fulfilled this prophecy is again, if possible, more 
distinctly stated by our Lord in answer to the 
arguments of the scribes (Matt, n : 10-13), "Elijah is 
come already. 7 ' The rabbis held that as Elijah 
ascended bodily into heaven, so he is destined to 
reappear bodily upon the earth before the advent 
of the Messiah ; and some Christian scholars, 
Alf ord for example, seem to hold the same view, 
believing that the literal resurrection and re- 
appearance of Elijah will precede the second 
coming of Christ. But our Lord neither here 
nor in Matt. 17 : 10-13 gives any hint of this. 
There is no more reason to regard John the Baptist 
as a typical fulfillment of the prophecy of the 
coming of Elijah than there is to regard Jesus of 
Nazareth as a typical fulfillment of the prophecies 
regarding the Messiah. Christ thus gives the 
sanction of his authority to the spiritual inter- 
pretation of the O. T. prophecies ; these are 
largely books of inspired poetry, and are to be 
read and interpreted accordingly. The advent 
of Christ was to the Jewish nation the "great 
and dreadful day of the Lord," because it ush- 
ered in the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
dispersion of the Jews. Observe that the closing 
words of the 0. T. canon prophesy the advent 
of John the Baptist, and that in the opening 
chapter of the N. T. canon the fulfillment of that 
prophecy is recorded. John the Baptist, when 
asked, said that he was not Elijah (John 1 : 21). It 
is not probable that he fully understood his own 
mission, or the extent to which he fulfilled the 
O. T. prophecy, and ushered in the N. T. dis- 
pensation. The greatest and best men rarely 
understand their own mission fully, or are under- 
stood by others, till after their death. If ye 
will receive. Not receive it, as in our English 
version, i. e. the statement of Christ, nor him, 
i. e. John the Baptist, as a prophet, but receive 
simply, i. e. accept the divine teaching and in- 
fluence whencesoever it comes. The function of 
Elijah, as described by Malachi (4: 6), was to pro- 
duce domestic peace and concord by the preach- 



ing of repentance as a preparation for the com- 
ing of the Prince Of Peace (compare Malachi 3 : 1). How 

far John would fulfill this prophecy depended 
on how far the people would receive and yield to 
instructions, which he gave in the spirit of the 
prophet Elijah. 

15. He that hath ears to hear, let him 
hear. A phrase frequently used to point out 
the fact that there is a deep significance in the 
instruction afforded, which requires thought- 
ful hearing. (Mark. I : 16; Luke 14 : 35; Rev. 2 : 7, etc.) 

Its meaning is indicated by the reference in 
Matt. 13 : 13, 14 to those who, having ears, hear 
not. 

16. 17. This generation * * * like unto 
children sitting in the market. The mar- 
kets were always held in an open street or square, 
as in many of our cities ; and these market-places 
were used, not only for business, but, like the 
streets and open squares of to-day, by children 
in their sports. Piped unto you * * * 
mourned unto you. The metaphor is drawn 
from the sports of children, imitating the serious 
business of life, here weddings and funerals. 
"Among the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans 
it was customary to play the flute, especially at 
marriage dances. Similarly, solemn wailing was 
customary at burials." — (Lange.) Dancing in 
that age was radically different from the modern 
dance ; it is, however, worthy of note that Christ 
implies its common use as a recreation, and in- 
cidentally compares his gospel to a call to the 
dance, as it is elsewhere compared to an invita- 
tion to a feast (Luke u : 16-24). Observe, too, in this 
metaphor, one of the many indications in the 
N. T., not only of Christ's love for children, but 
also of his sympathy for them in their childish\ 
sports and games. Of this parable, for such it 
is, in fact, three interpretations have been pro- 
posed : (a,) that the children represent the Jews, 
who called to John and to Jesus, but were dis- 
satisfied with the mourning of the one, and the 
joyousness of the other ; (6,) that the children 
and their fellows represent different classes of 
the Jews, one part desiring one thing, and an- 
other another, so that they could agree in 
nothing; (c,) that the children represent Jesus 
and John, the one of whom called to joyousness 
and the other to mourning, and both of whom 
were rejected. The latter is the older interpre- 
tation, it accords best with the context, and it is 
that which the ordinary reader would at once 
gather from the passage. The objection that 
Christ says " this generation is like unto children 



156 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XI. 



18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and 
they say, He" hath a devil. 

19 The Son of man came eating" and drinking, and 



they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, 
a friend of publicans? and sinners. But wisdomi is 
justified of her children. 



n ch. 10 : 25; John? : 20 ch. 9 : 10; John 2 : 2. . . .p Luke 13 : 2; 19 : 7. . . . q Pu. 92 : 5, 6; Proy. 17 : ! 



sitting and calling," is not conclusive, for he 
similarly says (Matt. 13 : 24), " The kingdom of heaven 
is likened unto a man who sowed good seed," 
while he afterwards (vcr. 37) explains that the 
sower is the Son of man ; compare similar use of 
language in Matt. 13 : 45. The objection that it 
is undignified or harsh to understand of the 
children John the Baptist and Jesus is even less 
forcible, for Christ elsewhere compares himself to 
objects lowlier and less dignified than children 
playing, e. g. to a road-way, to bread, to a gate, 
etc. See also for Biblical use of very lowly im- 
agery, Ezekiel 4 : 1-3 ; 5 : 1, etc. I accept, there- 
fore, the interpretation which is the most common 
and natural, though many of the ablest com- 
mentators, Lange, Schaff, Olshausen, and Alford 
among others, reject it. John comes mourning 
and warning, but the nation mourns not ; Jesus 
comes rejoicing and calling to joy, but the nation 
rejoices not. 

18. For. This connects the following verses 
with the preceding metaphor, and shows them 
to be an interpretation of it. John came 
neither eating nor drinking; i. e., sociably. 
He lived the life of an ascetic, almost of an her- 
mit (Matt. 3 : 4). He hath a devil. This charge 
is nowhere else reported against John, though it 
is reported as brought against Jesus (Matt. 9:34; 

12 : 24 ; John 7 : 20 ; 8 : 48, 52 ; 10 : 20). But the Pharisees, 

who rejected Jesus, and charged him with laxity 
of morals in mixing with sinners, also rejected 
John, whose spirit was the reverse of that of 
Jesus, in this respect (Matt. 21:25; Luke 7: 30). Dr. 
Brown remarks: "When men want an excuse 
for rejecting or disregarding the grace of the 
Gospel, they easily find it. * * * One preacher 
is too austere ; another too free ; one is too long ; 
another too short ; one is too sentimental ; an- 
other is too hard." 

19. The Son of man came eating and 
drinking; i. e., he mingled in the social festivi- 
ties of his age. There is no record in the N. T. 
of his ever having declined an invitation. His 
habit in this respect is illustrated by his presence 
at the marriage at Cana of Galilee (John 2: 1-11), 
the feast at Matthew's house (Matt. 9 : 9, 10), the 
house of Simon (Luke 7 : 36), the dinner given 
him by the Pharisees (Luke 11 : 37; 14 : 1), and the 
supper given by Mary and Martha (John 12 : 1, 2). 
Christ's example justifies a right enjoyment of 
social festivity, and affords no ground for asceti- 
cism. They say. Note the value of a "they 
.say;" i. e., the weight that belongs to mere 
common report. Behold a man gluttonous 



and a wine-bibber. Observe that Christ 
did not permit the fear that his example would 
be misunderstood and misinterpreted to prevent 
his participation in social festivities, in which 
there was then, as there is now, sometimes ex- 
cess. It is not true that we are to avoid all ap- 
pearance of evil, as that language is ordinarily 
understood (see note on i Thess. c : 22) ; and the apos- 
tle's principle, "If meat make my brother to 
offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand- 
eth," is to be qualified by Christ's example. An 
example that is a stumbling-block to others some- 
times becomes a duty. A friend of publicans 
and sinners. A sublime truth, though uttered 
as a slanderous lie. 

But wisdom is justified by her children, 
i. c, the divine Spirit is recognized by the children 
of God. Wisdom is not here equivalent to Christ ; 
it is the spirit of divine Wisdom which was mani- 
fested both in John the Baptist and in Jesus (see 
r-rov. ch. 8). Justified is equivalent to recognized as 

right (compare, for use, Matt. 12 : 37 ; Luke 7 : 29 ; 10 : 29 ; 1G : 15 ; 

is : m). In the Gospels, as in its theological use 
in Romans, it signifies, not a making right, but 
regarding as right, treating as right. Her children 
are the children that are begotten of the divine 
Wisdom, i. e., the sons of God (John 1 : 12, 13). The 
true meaning of the passage is indicated by 
Luke's declaration (Luke 7: 29): "All the people 
that heard him and the publicans justified Ood, 
being baptized with the baptism of John." For 
contrast between the effect produced by the 
Gospel on the children of foolishness and the 
children of wisdom, see 1 Cor. 1 : 23, 34. Observe 
that the Pharisees, the wise and mighty and 
rich of Judea, were stumbled, while the publi- 
cans and sinners, the foolish and weak and base, 

justified, God (l Cor. 1 : 26-28 ; compare John 7 : 48, 49). 

Ch. 11 : 20-24. WOES PRONOUNCED AGAINST GALI- 
LEAN CITIES. The object of Christ's mighty 

WORKS : THE PRODUCTION OP REPENTANCE — THE 
GROUND OP ETERNAL CONDEMNATION : THE REFUSAL TO 
REPENT. — THE HEATHEN CONDEMN CHRISTENDOM. — 
THE PROSPERITY OF GREAT CITIES OFTEN FALLACIOUS. 
— THE HISTORY OF DIVINE JUDGMENTS IN THE PAST AN 
EXEMPLIFICATION OF DIVINE JUDGMENTS IN THE FU- 
TURE.— DIFFERENCES IN SIN AND IN PUNISHMENT.— 
THE GREATER THE GRACE, THE GREATER THE SIN, AND 
THE GREATER THE JUDGMENT. 

This discourse and that contained in the fol- 
lowing part of the same chapter (ver. 25-30), appear 
only in Matthew. But thoughts almost identical 
with those down to verse 27, appear in Luke 
10 : 13-16, 21, 22, in connection with the commis 



Oh. XL] 



MATTHEW. 



157 



20 Taen r began he to upbraid the cities wherein 
most of his mighty works were done, because they re- 
pented not : 

21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin ! woe unto thee, Beth- 
saida ! s for if the mighty works which were done in 
you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would 
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 



22 But I say unto you, It' shall be more tolerable 
for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for 
you. 

23 And thou, Capernaum, which art" exalted unto 
heaven, shalt be brought down to hell : for if the 
mighty works which have been done in thee had been 
done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 



r Luke 10 ; 13, etc s John 12 : 21 t ch. 10 : 15 11 Isa. 14 : 13-15 ; Lam. 2:1. 



sion and the return of the Seventy. Most com- 
mentators regard the connecting words, " then 
he began to upbraid," as an indication that this 
entire chapter is one discourse. So Alford : "I 
would regard the 'then he began,' as the token 
of the report of an ear witness, and as pointing 
to a pause or change of manner on the part of 
our Lord." The original is, however, certainly 
susceptible of a more general signification. This 
occasion marked a change in Christ's ministry, 
from a mere proclamation that the kingdom is 
at hand to a warning of divine judgments against 
the people for rejecting it. Observe that from 
this time onward, these warnings grow more and 
more terrible to the close of his ministry. See 
Luke 11 : 39-54 ; 13 : 1-5 ; 16 : 15, and their strong- 
est and most terrible expression in Matt. ch. 23. 
Whether the same woes were twice pronounced 
in the cities of Galilee, once at the time indicated 
here by Matthew, and again at the time indicated 
by Luke, or whether the two evangelists give in 
different connections reports of the same address, 
is a question which cannot be answered with any 
certainty. 

20. The cities (of Galilee), wherein most 
of his mighty works were done. The Greek 
word (diivufiic) here translated "mighty works," 
is elsewhere translated miracles (Mark 9 : 39 ; Acta 
2 : 22). It unquestionably here means works of a 
miraculous nature. That there were many such 
miracles unrecorded is testified to in Luke 4 : 33 
and John 21 : 25. Compare Matt. 9 : 35 ; Mark 
1 : 34 ; Luke 7 : 21. Because they repented 
not. The object of his miracles, as his preach- 
ing, was to produce repentance. Compare Matt. 
4 : 17. " He does not say because they believed 
not ; for some kind of faith [belief ?] many of 
them had, as that Christ was a teacher come 
from God ; but because they repented not ; their 
faith [belief ?] did not prevail to the transform- 
ing of their hearts and the reformation of their 
lives." — (Matthew Henry.) 

21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin. Chorazin 
is mentioned only here and in Luke 10 : 13. Its 
situation is not with certainty known ; the latest 
researches identify it with modern Kerazeh, two 
miles north of Capernaum, modern Tel Hum, 
and this agrees with the testimony of Jerome. 
Nothing is known of its history. Bethsaida. 
There is no adequate ground for the hypothesis 
that there were two cities of this name in Galilee, I 



one on the northern and one on the western shore 
of the lake, an hypothesis invented to reconcile 
Luke 9 : 10 with Mark 6 : 45. There are some 
passages in later writers, referred to in Smith's 
Bib. Diet., which seem to substantiate this hy- 
pothesis, but there is no relic of a Bethsaida on 
the western shore, and no adequate evidence of 
such a town to overcome the inherent improba- 
bility of two towns of the same name in such 
close proximity. There was a well-known town 
of this name, a fisherman's village (the name sig- 
nifies house offish), on the north shore, where the 
Jordan enters the Sea of Galilee. See note on 
Mark 6 : 45. 

Tyre and Sidon. Phoenician cities on the 
Mediterranean coast (see map). Sidon, named 
from the son of Canaan (Gen. 10 : 15), was one of 
the oldest cities in the Holy Land. Tyre, an off- 
spring of Sidon, became the chief commercial city 
of Palestine, if not of all the East. Joshua did 
not drive out the aborigines from the neighbor- 
ing plains (josh. 11 : 8, with judg. i : 19) ; and David and 
Solomon made treaties with the kings of Tyre 
(2 Sam. 5:ii ; 1 Kings 5 : 1-12). The Tyrian manufactures 
and commerce are graphically described in Eze- 
kiel, ch. 27. Carthage, long the rival of Rome, 
was a Tyrian colony. Both Tyre and Sidon fell 
into the hands of Alexander the Great, and Phoe- 
nicia became a province of Syria. Still , in the time 
of Christ, Tyre was the chief commercial city of 
Palestine, and the largest city, probably, except 
perhaps Jerusalem. Both cities are now com- 
paratively in ruins. The harbor of Tyre is filled 
up, the fishermen dry their nets on its rocks, 
and even if Palestine should become a prosperous 
nation again, Tyre never could be rebuilt as a 
commercial city, for want of a harbor, a striking 
illustration of the truth of Ezekiel's prophecy, 
"Thou shalt be built no more " (Ezek. 26 : 14). The 
warnings denounced against Tyre and Sidon in 
Ezekiel, chaps. 26, 27, and 28, rendered these 
cities notably a type of warning to the Jews. 

In sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth is a 
coarse texture of a dark color made of goats' 
hair. It was worn by mourners in a garment 
resembling a sack in shape, with holes for the 
arms. For illustration of use, see 2 Kings 6 : 30 ; 
Job 16 : 15 ; Isaiah 32 : 11 ; Joel 1:8; Jonah 3 : 5. 
Ashes were also put upon the head and face as a 
symbol of mourning. See 2 Sam. 13 : 19 ; Esther 
4 : 1 ; Job 2 : 8 ; Isaiah 58 : 5, etc. 



158 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XI. 



24 But I say unto you, That' it shall be more tolera- 
ble for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than 
for thee. 

25 At™ that time Jesus answered and said, I thank 
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because 



thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, 
and hast revealed them unto babes. 1 

26 Even so, Father : for so it seemed good in thy 
sight. 

27 All things? are delivered unto me of my Father : 



T verse 22. . . .w Luke 10 : 21, etc x Ps. 8 : 2 ; Jer. 1 : 7, 8 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 27 y ch. 28 : 18 ; Luke 10 : 22 ; John 3 : 35 j 17 : 2 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 27. 



22. More tolerable. See note on Matthew 
10 : 15. 

23. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou 
be exalted unto heaven ? Thou shalt be 
brought down unto death. There is some 
uncertainty as to the reading ; that which I have 
adopted in this rendering is that of the Sinaitic 
manuscript, and is adopted by Lachmann, Tre- 
gelles, Conant, and Alford in his last edition. 
The word translated "hell" is not Gehenna 
(yitva), the place of punishment, but Hades 
(rfSijs), the place of the dead. See note on Matt. 
5 : 22. The declaration is not that the inhabi- 
tants of Capernaum shall be eternally punished, 
but that Capernaum itself, which was the chief 
commercial city of the Sea of Galilee, should not 
have its expectation of future greatness realized, 
but should be obliterated. This prophecy has 
been so literally fulfilled that the very site of 
Capernaum is a matter of uncertainty. See note 
on Matt. 4 : 13. Of course, the spiritual lesson 
is involved in the symbol, the judgment that has 
fallen on the place is typical of the judgment that 
will fall on the people, as on all those that refuse 
to repent at the preaching and mighty works of 
Jesus. Had been done in Sodom. Christ 
elsewhere compares the suddenness of the judg- 
ment which overtook Sodom to that which will 
overtake the world (Luke 17 : 29, 30). The O. T. 
prophets compared the sins of Israel to those 

of Sodom (isaiah 1 : 10; Lam. 4:6; Ezek. 16 : 46-57). 

It would have remained. It is then clear 
(a) that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah 
was not brought about by the mere operation of 
natural law or an inevitable decree, but by divine 
Providence as a punishment for iniquity, a fact 
clearly stated in the O. T. narrative (Gen. is : 20, 21 ; 
19 : 13), but here directly confirmed by Christ ; 
(6) that the decrees of God are not irrevocable, 
but are held by him subjected to change on the 
repentance and reformation of those warned of 
impending punishment, a truth illustrated in the 
history of Nineveh (jonah 3 : 10) ; (c) that there is 
no sin and no sinner that cannot obtain pardon 
and absolution through repentance, since even 
Sodom might have escaped if it had repented. 

24. More tolerable in the day of judg- 
ment. History affords an illustration of this 
declaration; for "the name and perhaps even 
the remains of Sodom are still to be found on the 
shore of the Dead Sea, while that of Capernaum, 
on the Lake of Gennesareth, has been utterly 
lost."— (Stanley.) 



The moral meaning of these woes and their 
practical application is plain. "Unto whomso- 
ever much is given, of him shall much be re- 
quired " (Luke 12 : 48). In the divine judgment the 
flagrant vices of ignorance are less culpable than 
the rejection of pardon and spiritual life by those 
educated in the Gospel. The historical fulfill- 
ment of these warnings, in the destruction of the 
cities, points forward to a further spiritual ful- 
fillment ; for the declaration is that it shall be 
more tolerable for the land of Sodom in that day, 
which evidently looks to a judgment of Sodom, 
i. e., of its people, yet to come ; but the judg- 
ment on the place, as a place, had long since been 
fulfilled. If Tyre and Sidon, and Sodom and 
Gomorrah would have repented if further op- 
portunity and greater manifestations had been 
awarded them, the question naturally occurs, 
why were these not given ? The answer is, that 
sufficient opportunity and sufficient warnings 
were given, and as no laborer in the vineyard has 
a right to call God to an account for giving a 
penny to all alike (Matt. 20 : 10-14), so no outcast 
has a right to call God to account for not giving 
all the same opportunity. If still the disciple, 
perplexed, asks why such seeming inequalities 
in the administration of divine grace, why the 
gift of Christ to the cities of Galilee and the with- 
holding of Christ from the cities of the plain, the 
gift of Christianity to Europe and the withhold- 
ing it from India, there is no other answer than, 
Even so, Father ; for so it seemed good in thy 
sight. 

Ch. 11 : 23-30. CHRIST'S INVITATION. The WARN- 
ing of danger and doom is followed bt the in- 
vitation to refuge and rest. — spiritual truth is 
discerned, not bt intellectual power, but bt 
child-like doctlitt. the humble child is wiser 
than the conceited philosopher.— all things on 
earth are in the hands of infinite merct.— the 
mtstert of christ's nature; no theologt can 
fullt interpret him.— christ the great revealer. 
— Without Christ God is the Unknown and Un- 
knowable. — Who are invited? all in need; to 
whom invited? to Jesus, who saves from sin (Matt. 
1:21); for what invited? for rest in trouble 
here, from trouble hereafter.— Christ's toke, 
self-denial for the sake of others ; light, be- 
cause borne fof christ and borne with christ. 
Christ's toke, because borne bt him for us, bt 
us for him, and bt it we are toked to christ. — 
The true Christian teacher must be meek and 
lowlt in heart. — christ's gift, a toke, tet per- 
fect rest; a service which is jot and peace. 



Oh. XI] 



MATTHEW. 



159 



25. At that time. Not necessarily in the 
same discourse. It may mean at this period in 
his ministry, though the discourse from verse 7 
may be all one. Compare for signification of 
phrase, Matt. 12 : 1 ; 14 : 1 ; Mark 10 : 30, etc. 
This much is certain ; at the same period in which 
Jesus began to pronounce woes against the cities 
of Galilee, he commenced to give to his ministry 
a tenderer aspect toward the weary and heavy- 
laden. Luke records the same acknowledgment 
of God's mystery of grace with a more definite 
note of time, "in that hour " (Luke 10 : 21), i. e., in 
the same hour with the return of the Seventy. 
Robinson supposes it to have been twice uttered, 
and this is quite possible. See above, note on 
20-34 I thank thee. The Greek verb 
(i^uuoXoyiiu) so rendered here is nowhere else in 
the N. T. so translated, except in the parallel 
passage in Luke. The general idea is "confess," 
but with the idea of publicity. It is here "J 
publicly acknowledge to thee * * * that thou hast 
hid" etc. Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth. It is to be observed that he does not 
address the Father as his Lord, but as Lord of 
heaven and earth. But see John 20 : 17, where 
he says " My Father and your Father, and my 
God and your God. These things. That is, 
the mysterious operation of that divine power 
which destroys the cities of Galilee and raises up 
other nations to become light-bearers, as set forth 
in Matt. 21 : 43. Compare Rom. 11 : 33, and ob- 
serve that Paul's expression there is in view of the 
casting out of Israel and the admission of the 
Gentiles. Both the warnings (Luke 19 : 42) and the 
invitations (2 cor. 4 : 3) of the Gospel are hid from 
the eyes of such as are wise in their own conceit. 
Compare 1 Cor. 2 : 6-8. From the wise and 
prudent. The wise in philosophy, the prudent 
in worldly affairs (Acts 13 : 1). Observe, that the 
contrast is not with the unwise and imprudent, 
but with babes. The words (ootpoz and ovvttog), 
here rendered "wise and prudent," are never 
used alone in the N. T. in a bad sense, unless 
1 Cor. 3 : 19 be an exception. The word wise (Gr. 
ampog) is employed to designate an attribute both 
of God and good men (1 cor. 3 : 10 ; Rom. 16 : 27), and 
the negative foolish (Gr. <l'<jo<y)oj, Ephes. 5 : 15 only) 
and without understanding {uovtctoc, Matt. i5:iG; 
Rom. 1 : 31, etc.), are used only in a bad sense. The 
doctrine conveyed, then, is that religious truth 
is not acquired by any mere intellectual process, 
however good in itself ; it is revealed not to philo- 
sophical wisdom, or intellectual culture, or prac- 
tical sagacity in affairs, but to childlike humility 
and docility. Compare Job 11 : 7 ; Luke 18 : 17 ; 
1 Cor. 1 : 12-21. The babes here are the disci- 
ples, contrasted with the wise and prudent (1 Cor. 
1 : 26), unfamiliar with the wisdom of the Scribes 
(Acts 4 : 13), and disregarding worldly prudence 
in leaving all to follow Christ. The language 



here indicates that Luke has given this part of 
the discourse in the right connection, viz., im- 
mediately after the return of the Seventy from 
their mission. "When the Seventy came telling 
him about the devils, then he rejoiced and spake 
these things ; which, besides increasing their 
diligence, would also dispose them to be mod- 
est." — ( Chrysostom.) 

27. All things are delivered unto me 
of my Father. Not revealed to me, but deliv- 
ered to me ; i. e., the whole administration of 
human life is handed over to me. Compare Col. 
1 : 16-19, and Hebrews 1 : 8. But observe that 
the power of Christ is represented as derived 
from the Father (delivered unto me by my 
Father), and that all will at the last be delivered 
to the Father again (1 Cor. 15 : 28). Compare, as to 
both truths, Matt. 28 : 18 ; John 5 : 26, 36 ; 14 : 10. 
No man knoweth the Son. The designation 
of Jesus as "the Son" occurs frequently in the 
Gospel of John, but only here, in Luke 10 : 22, 
and in Mark 13 : 32, in the synoptic Gospels. 
This verse finds, both in the spirit and the truth 
enunciated, a parallel in many passages in John ; 
e. g., John 1 : 18 ; 6 : 46 ; 14 : 6, 9, 10. The com- 
mentators note in it "a connecting link between 
the synoptists and John, and an incidental 
testimony by Matthew to the originality and 
credibility of the weighty discourse of Christ 
concerning his relation to the Father, which 
are only recorded in the fourth Gospel." — 
(Schaff.) 

No one knoweth the Son but the Fa- 
ther. Knows perfectly, fully (Gr. tmyiroJoxoj). 
Compare Matt. 7 : 20, and note. Observe that it 
is not, as in our version, no man knoweth, but no 
one knoweth — man, angel, archangel. That is, 
Christ claims a character which only the Infinite 
can .'fathom, because only the Infinite can fully 
understand the Infinite. Compare 1 Cor. 2 : 11. 
Observe, too, how the declaration of this mys- 
tery of Christ's nature is coupled with the dec- 
laration that the mysteries of the King and the 
kingdom are revealed to the childlike and hid 
from the wise and prudent ; and that any system 
of theology is unscriptural which undertakes 
fully to interpret the nature of either the Father 
or the Son. Neither knoweth any one the 
Father but the Son, and he to whom the 
Son wills to reveal him. No man knows the 
Father except he add to the knowledge gained 
from other sources — history, science, nature, and 
his own thoughts — that special knowledge of 
God's grace and love which the Son affords ; nor 
unless his study of nature, etc., is under the di- 
rection of and in submission to the Son. Philos- 
ophy is in so far right that to the Christless God 
is the Unknowable. Compare, for the way in 
which the Son reveals the Father, and to whom 
he will reveal him, John 14 : 15-24. 



160 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XI. 



and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father ; neither 
knoweth* any man the Father, save the Son, and he to 
whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour" and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. 



29 Take my yoke upon you, and leam b of me ; for 
I am meek and lowly in heart : and ye d shall find rest 
unto your souls. 

30 For my yoke is easy, e and my burden is light. 



z John 1 ; 18 ; 1 John 5 : 20 a Isa. 55 : 1-4 b Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Pet. 2 : 21. 



i Zech. 9:0 d Jer. 8 : 16 e 1 John 5 : 3. 



28. Come unto me. Observe the utter in- 
congruity of such an invitation as that here 
given, and its accompanying promise, in the 
mouth of a merely inspired prophet, or even an 
angel or archangel. Compare with it John 1 : 29, 
and Isaiah 53 : 4 ; and observe that Christ car- 
ries not only our sins, but also our griefs and our 
sorrows. 

All that labor and are heavy laden. 
This is not to be limited or qualified, as an invi- 
tation to the Jews, " who groaned under the 
weight of their ceremonial laws and the tradition 
of their elders " {Barnes), or to " those, and those 
only, that are sensible of sin as a burden, and 
groan under it, that are not only convinced of 
the evil of sin, of their own sin, but are contrite 
in soul for it." — {Matthew Henry.) Of course, 
the invitation includes those burdened by a con- 
sciousness of sin, and the laborer serving under 
the law, as the greater includes the less. Ob- 
serve, too, that the burden and weariness of 
labor is a fruit of sin (Gen. 3 : 17-19), and is thus a 
symbol of the bitterer spiritual labor and weari- 
ness of the soul under a sense of sin. But this 
invitation is not merely to the penitent and the 
remorseful, but to all who, for any reason what- 
ever, feel the want of a rest which the world cannot 

give (compare Ps. 46 : 1 and Heb. 4 : 16J. Thus, the travail 

of life echoes Christ's invitation to spiritual rest 
(Rom. 8 : 22, 23). The burden and labor of the leper 
was his leprosy ; of the centurion, was his sick 
child ; of the palsied, was his palsy ; of the wo- 
man that was a sinner, was her sin and shame ; 
of the prodigal, was at first only his hunger and 

his degradation (Matt. 8:2-4, 5, 6; 9:2; Luke 7:38; 

is : 16, 17). The coming to Christ is interpreted by 
his name, Jesus, Saviour from sin (Matt. 1 : 21), and 
by the coming of the apostles (e.g., Lute 5: 11), of 
Paul (Acts : 5, 6), and of the rich young man who 
did not truly and finally come (Matt. 19 : 16-22) ; not 
less so by the coming of the many burdened by 
disease who came to him for cure. Whoever 
comes must take up his cross and follow Jesus 
(Lute 14: 25-35). Chrysostom's interpretation is as 
broad as the original invitation itself. " Not this 
or that person, but all that are in anxiety, in sor- 
rows, in sins, come — not that I may call you to 
account, but that I may do away your sins ; 
come — not that I want your honor, but that I 
want your salvation." 

I will give you rest. Not necessarily from 
your burden ; if not, that then rest in your bur- 
den. The rest is described in the next verse, 



u rest unto your souls." Compare John 14: 27; 
16:33; and observe that Christ's promise of 
peace there recorded was followed immediately 
after by external experiences of dire tribulation 
both to him and to his disciples. Compare, for 
fulfillment of this promise, 2 Cor. 12 : 9, 10 ; and 
for parallel to it, Heb. 12 : 11-13. 

29. Take my yoke upon you. The yoke 
is used symbolically in the Bible to denote a con- 
dition Of Servitude (Lev. 26 : 13 ; 1 Kings 12 : 4, 9-11 ; Isaiah 

0.-4, etc.); and hence, in the N. T., of bondage 
under the law as opposed to the freedom of the 

Gospel (Acts 15: 10; Gal. 5 : 1 ; 1 Tim. 6 : l). Only here 

is it used in the N. T. of allegiance to Christ. 
The metaphor was well understood in his time. 
To express the subjugation of the conquered na- 
tions, the Romans were accustomed to make 
their captives pass under a yoke, made by placing 
two spears upright a short distance apart, and a 
third across the top. To pass under it, they 
were compelled to stoop. To take Christ's yoke, 
then, is to become captive to him in love. But 
the yoke is never borne by one alone. And Christ 
also became subject to a yoke for love's sake 
(see Phil. 2 : 7, 8), and sends us into the world as he 
was sent into the world (John n ■. is). Hence, to 
take Christ's yoke is not only to yield ourselves 
servants to him in righteousness ; it is also to be 
yoked to Christ, i. e., become yoke-fellow and co- 
laborer with him (see 1 cor. 3 : 7). All burdens be- 
come easy when we are yoked with Christ, and 
he bears them with us. 

And learn of me. By my teaching, my ex- 
ample, my indwelling. For I am meek. See 
note on Matt. 5 : 5. And lowly in heart ; 
i. e., of a heart to condescend to men of low es- 
tate. It is explained by Rom. 12 : 16, and Phil. 
2 : 5-8, etc. The qualification, even of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, to be our divine teacher is not so 
much his infinite wisdom as his infinite meekness 
and condescension. And we attain his peace by 
becoming like him in character. Ye shall find 
rest unto your souls. Compare Jeremiah 
6 : 10. Observe that there the condition of the 
promise is, "Ask for the old paths." Christ 
himself fulfilled the law and the prophets, so 
that they who came to him for rest came unto 
old paths, those through which the patriarchs 
and prophets entered into their rest. 

30. For my yoke is easy. Rather, kindly 
serviceable. This is the proper meaning of the 
original (/ptjoroV). That a yoke is easy is not an 
argument for it. for none at all is still easier. 



Ch. XII.] 



MATTHEW. 



161 



CHAPTER XII. 

T that time' Jesus went on the sabbath day 
through the corn ; and his disciples were an 
hungred, and began to plucks the ears of corn, and to 
eat. 



A 



2 But when the Pharisees saw :'/, they said unto him, 
Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do 11 
upon the sabbath day. 

3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what 
David did' when he was an hungred, and they that 
were with him ; 



f Mark 2 : 23, etc. ; Luke 6:1, etc g Deut. 23 : 25 b Exod. 31 : 15 i 1 Sam. 21 : 6. 



But Christ's yoke is useful ; it is by his yoke that 
we ourselves are brought into the image of God ; 
by sharing his death we are made participants 
in his life here (2 Cor. 4 : 10) and hereafter (2 Tim. 2:11), 
and are also enabled to do service to him as repre- 
sented in our fellow-men. "The yoke of Christ 
is like the plumage of a bird, which adds to its 
weight, but enables it to soar to the sky." — 
( Wordsioorth, quoting from the Fathers.) My 
burdeu is light. Compare Matt. 33 : 4. For 
a contrast between the yoke which Christ breaks 
and the rest he gives, see Romans chaps. 7 and 8 ; 
7 : 21-21 interprets the burden; 8 : 1, 38, 39 
indicates the rest. If, as is thought by many of 
the harmonists, the incident of the woman who 
was a sinner, recorded in Luke 7 : 36-50, occurred 
immediately after this discourse, her acceptance 
of the invitation here offered affords the best 
possible interpretation of its true spiritual sig- 
nificance. Compare with Christ's invitation and 
his absolute promise of rest to all who come to 
him, the dying discourse of Socrates: "Cebes 
answered with a smile, ' Then, Socrates, you 
must argue us out of our fears ; and yet, strictly 
speaking, they are not our fears ; but there is a 
child within us to whom death is a sort of hob- 
goblin ; him, too, we must persuade not to be 
afraid when he is alone with him in the dark. ' 
Socrates said, ' Let the voice of the charmer be 
applied daily until you have charmed him away.' 
'And where shall we find a good charmer of our 
fears, Socrates, when you are gone ? ' ' Greece,' 
he replied, 'is a large place, Cebes, and has 
many good men, and there are barbarous races 
not a few ; seek for him among them all far and 
wide, sparing neither pains nor money ; for there 
is no better way of using your money. And you 
must not forget to seek for him among your- 
selves too ; for he is nowhere more likely to be 
f ound.' " — (Pkoedo, Jowett's translation.) 



Ch. 12 : 1-14. THE LAW OF THE CHRISTIAN SAB- 
BATH ILLUSTRATED. It is always east to criticise 
Christians.— The service op Christ is more than 
the service op the temple. — the liberty op the 
o. t. illustrated by david, by the temple ser- 
vice ; how much greater the liberty op the n. t. 
— The service op mercy, more than the service op 
sacrifice ; the service op christ, more than that 
op the temple.— the sabbath permanent : christ 
is its Lord ; universal : made for man.— Two fun- 
damental principles op Sabbath observance: it 
13 made for man's use, so its best use is always its 



right use ; it is lawful to do good on the sabbath 
day. — The Sabbath of earth ltke the Sabbath of 
heaven, a rest prom the harassment op evil, but 
not prom works op love. — wlth every command 
op Christ comes power prom Christ. — The eppect 

OP MIRACLES ON UNCANDID MINDS IS ONLY TO ANGER, 
NOT TO CONVINCE. 

The incidents here recorded are found also in 
Mark 2 : 23-28 ; 3 : 1-6, and Luke 6 : 1-11. The 
time is uncertain. The most definite indications 
are the references in Luke 6 : 1, to "the second 
Sabbath after the first " (see note there), and the fact 
that the grain was ripe for plucking. The bar- 
ley harvest was in April, the wheat harvest was 
in May, sometimes as late as June. Most har- 
monists place both incidents immediately suc- 
ceeding that recorded in John, ch. 5. They pro- 
bably occurred prior to the Sermon on the 
Mount, certainly prior to the commission of the 
twelve. The place is also uncertain. The con- 
nection in all three of the Evangelists, neither of 
whom gives an account of Christ's early Judean 
ministry in detail, indicates Galilee. But see 
note below, on verse 9. 

1. At that time. See note on chap. 11 : 25. 
On the Sabbath day. The Jewish Sabbath, 
the seventh day of the week, answering to our 
Saturday. There was no observance of the first 
day of the week till after the resurrection of 
Christ. Corn. Rather grain, probably barley 
or wheat. The principal grains known to the- 
Hebrews were wheat, barley, millet and spelt, 
the latter rendered sometimes rye (Eiod. 9 : 32;- 
isaiah 28 : 25), and sometimes fitches (Ezek. 4 : 9). Re- 
cent discoveries indicate that maize or Indian 
corn was known to the Egyptians, but whether 
it was cultivated by the Hebrews or not is mat- 
ter only of conjecture. Were an hungered - 
The rabbinical law allowed no eating on the Sab- 
bath, except in case of sickness, prior to the 
morning prayers of the synagogue. A similar 
canon in the ritualistic churches of to-day forbids 
breaking the fast before partaking of the com- 
munion. Began to pluck the ears of corn. 
Luke adds, "rubbing them in their hands," in- 
order to separate the kernel from the chaff. 

2. That which is not lawful to do upon 
the Sabbath day. The Jewish law expressly 
permitted plucking the standing grain with the 
hand in passing through a field (Deut. 23 : 25) ; so 
that the objection was not that there was any dis- 
honesty or theft ; and the spirit of the law allowed 



162 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XII. 



4 How he entered into the house of God, and did 
eat the showbread,J which was not lawful for him to 
eat, neither for them which were with him, but only" 
lor the priests ? 

5 Or have ye not read in the law, 1 how that on the 
sabbath days the priests in the temple m profane the 
sabbath, and are blameless ? 



6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one 
greater" than the temple. 

7 But it ye had known what this meaneth, 1° will 
have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have con- 
demned the guiltless. 

8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath 
day. 



j Ex. 25 : I 



.k Ex. 29 : 32, 33 1 Num. 28 : 9 m John 7 : ! 



3 n ch. 23 : 17-21 ; 2 Chron. 6 : 18 j Mai. 3:1 o Hos. 6 : 6. 



doing on holy days what was necessary to supply 
needful food (Exod. 12 : 16). But the rabbinical rules 
forbade any approximation to labor on the Sab- 
bath. "One might not walk upon the grass be- 
cause it would be bruised, which would be a kind 
of threshing ; nor catch a flea, which would be a 
kind of hunting ; nor wear nailed shoes, which 
would be a sort of burden ; nor, if he fed his 
chickens, suffer any corn to lie upon the ground, 
lest a kernel should germinate, which would be 
a kind of sowing." — (Abbott' 's Jesus of Nazareth.) 
And a special rule forbade to pluck the ears of 
corn, because that would be a kind of reaping. 
The punishment awarded by the rabbis for a 
presumptuous violation of this law was stoning. 
(See Lightfoot.) 

3. Have ye not read ? Compare chapter 
9 : 13, and note there. Observe the delicate 
irony of the question. What David did. The 
account is in 1 Sam. 21 : 1-9. They that were 
with him. In Samuel, Ahimelech is repre- 
sented as asking, " Why art thou alone, and no 
man with thee?" but verse 4 of 1 Sam. ch. 21, 
shows clearly that he was not absolutely alone, 
only, for a king's son, comparatively unattended. 

4. And did eat the showbread. This con- 
sisted of twelve loaves placed fresh every Sab- 
bath day on the table in the sanctuary (Exod. 25 : 
23-30 ; 39 : 36). It could be eaten only in the sanc- 
tuary and by the priests (Lev. 24 : 5-9). To get this 
bread, David told a lie ; and the consequence was 
disastrous in the extreme (see 1 Sam. ch. 22 : 17-19). 
Christ does not commend his course in this 
respect ; the only question before him relates to 
Sabbath observance, and the right of man to 
modify or set aside a ceremonial regulation in 
case of necessity. Observe, that fresh bread had 
just been put upon the table when David arrived 
(1 Sam. 21 : g), he taking that which was carried 
away ; the day, therefore, was the Sabbath (Lev. 

24:8). 

5. The priests in the temple profane 
the Sabbath. By kindling fires for the burnt 
offerings and bearing the sacrifices and utensils 
through the temple. The Sabbath was the 
priests' busiest day of labor. Work was required 
of the priests (Numb. 28 : 9, 10) ; though in general 

forbidden (Exod. 20 : 10 ; Neh. 13 : 19 ; Jer. 17 : 21, 22, 27) 

Blameless. Because the greater duty of tem- 
ple service set aside the law of Sabbath rest. 
Compare John 7 : 22, 23. 

6. A greater than the temple is here. 



Not merely mercy is greater than the temple, 
but, as Dean Alford interprets it, "If the priest 
in the temple, and for the temple's sake, profane 
the Sabbath, as ye account profanation, and are 
blameless, how much more these disciples who 
have gone hungry in their appointed following of 
Him who is greater than the temple, the true 
Temple of God on earth, the Son of man." 

7. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. 
Quoted from Hosea 6 : 6. See note on Matt. 
9 : 13. If, in the service of sacrifice, the Sabbath 
law may be seemingly set aside, how much more 
in my service, which is the service of mercy. 

8. For the Son of man. Mark inserts here 
before this verse the important addition, The 
Sabbath was made for man, not man far the Sab- 
bath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the 
Sabbath. The Son of man is never, in N. T. usage, 
equivalent to man, but always signifies the Mes- 
siah. Christ's declaration is not, as Grotius, Be- 
cause the Sabbath was made for man, man is 
Lord of the Sabbath, which would be a singular 
non sequitur ; but, Because the Sabbath is made 
for humanity, the Lord of humanity is Lord of 
the Sabbath. Observe, is Lord of the Sabbath. 
He does not, then, abolish it, but retains and 
rules over it. While the direct bearing of this in- 
cident and teaching respects the Sabbath observ- 
ance, it goes deeper. It strikes at the root of all 
ceremonialism. The Christian must be willing 
to die for a principle (Luke 14 : 26) ; he is not re- 
quired even to suffer a pang of hunger merely to 
preserve intact a ceremonial. If the Sabbath, 
the oldest and the most sacred of all religious 
observances, was made for man, much more all 
lesser observances. 

9-13. Healing of the man with the with- 
ered hand. Mark 3 : 1-6, and Luke 6 : 6-11, 
add some features not given here. Combining 
these accounts, it appears that Christ entered 
the synagogue on the Sabbath to teach (Luke) ; 
that the Scribes and Pharisees, observing the 
man with the withered hand, watched to see 
whether Christ would heal, that they might And 
a ground of accusation against him (Luke) ; that 
they first put the question to him, Is it lawful to 
heal on the Sabbath days ? (Matt.) that he, knowing 
their purpose, replied with a question which dis- 
closed their hypocrisy, Is it lawful to do good on 
the Sabbath day, or to do evil ? to save life, or to 
kill ? to which they could make no reply (Mark, 
Luke) ; that he looked about upon them with 



Ch. XIL] 



MATTHEW. 



163 



9 And? when he was departed thence, he went into 
their synagogue : 

10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand 
withered. And they asked him, saying, Isi it lawful 
to heal on the sabbath days ? that they might accuse 
him. 

ii And he said unto them, Whatman shall there be 
among you that shall have one sheep, and' if it fall into 
a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and 
lift it out ? 



12 How much then is a man better than a sheep ? 
Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. 

13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. 
And he stretched it forth ; and it was restored whole, 
like as the other. 

14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council 
against him, how they might destroy him. 

15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself 
from thence : and great multitudes followed him, and 
he healed them all ; 



p Mark 3 : 1, etc. ; Lake 6 : 6, etc q Luke 14 : 3. . . .r Deut. 22 : 4. 



anger, being grieved at the hardness of their 
hearts, then answered their question and his own 
by the illustration of the sheep (Matt.), which he 
seems to have subsequently repeated in a slightly 
different form on another occasion (Luke 14 : 5) ; he 
then performed the cure, but with a word, doing 
nothing, and so giving no ground on which they 
could base an accusation. 

9. Departed thence. Nothing more is ne- 
cessarily indicated by this than that the two in- 
cidents did not occur in the same place. Luke 
says the healing was wrought "on another Sab- 
bath." Their synagogue. That is, a syna- 
gogue of the Pharisees, one in which their influ- 
ence predominated. 

10. Had his hand withered; i. e., dried 
up from a deficient absorption of the nutriment. 
Luke says his "right hand." The disease here 
indicated results in a loss both in size and in 
power of the arm ; for it there is no remedy 
known to man. They asked him, saying, Is 
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day ? 
Their object was to provoke him to some act on 
which they could base an accusation of Sabbath- 
breaking, the punishment for which was death. 
The Mosaic law did not forbid works of healing ; 
but the rabbinical tradition and interpretations 
did. "Let not those that are in health use 
physic on the Sabbath day." "He that hath the 
toothache, let him not swallow vinegar to spit it 
out again ; but he may swallow it, so he swallow 
it down." Lightfoot gives a number of these 
minute and absurd Sabbath regulations. See 
Luke 13 : 14. 

11. And he said unto them. He first 
asked them a question which they could not an- 
swer: " Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath 

days ? to Save life Or tO kill ? " (Mark 3 : 4, and note) ; 

i. e., to save life, as I am seeking to do, or to kill, 
as you are seeking to do, in endeavoring to find a 
ground of accusation against me. 

What man shall there be among you, 
etc. Later rabbinical law forbade the owner 
of a beast that fell into a pit to lift it out ; he 
might, however, bring food, or even lay planks 
for the beast to come out on. That this regula- 
tion was of a later date is evident from Christ's 
language here, which indicates that the saving of 
the beast in such case was a thing allowed (compare 



Luke 14 : 15). It is not improbable that the subse- 
quent regulation was added by some of the 
rabbis to meet the very point of Christ's argu- 
ment in this case. 

12. How much better then is a man 
than a sheep. Compare Matt. 6 : 26, and note 
there. It is lawful to do well on the Sab- 
bath days, i. e., to do good to others. The 
language (zu/.wc nonit) is the same as that em- 
ployed in Matt. 5 : 44, "Do good to them that 
hate you." Work, the sole object of which is true 
benefit to others, is legitimate Sabbath labor. 

13. Then saith he to the man. As the 
cure is wrought only by a word, the Pharisees 
have no ground of accusation ; there has been 
no infraction of the letter of even their own 
regulations. Observe that with the word of 
command here, as in others of Christ's miracles 

(Matt. 9 : 6 ; John 5 : 8, etc.), COmeS pOWer to Obey it. 

So he requires what are impossibilities of with- 
ered souls, but with the command imparts power 

tO fulfill (John 1 : 12). 

14. Took counsel. Not the gathering of an 
official body, but an informal consultation is indi- 
cated The Herodians joined in these delibera- 
tions (Mark 3 : 6). This is the first mention of any 
deliberate plan formed to put our Lord to death. 
The attempt at his destruction in Nazareth (Luke 
4 : 29) was the sudden impulse of a mob. Observe, 
in the effect of this miracle, how utterly ineffi- 
cacious are miracles to persuade uncandid souls. 
See an illustration of the same principle in Luke 
16 : 31. Modern miracles would not convince 
modern skepticism. 

The lesson of these incidents. In con- 
sidering the general significance of Christ's ex- 
ample and words in these two incidents, it is to 
be observed, 1st. That Christ chose the Sabbath 
as an occasion for many cures. Seven such are 

recorded in the Gospels (Mark 1 : SI, 99; Lnkel3:14; 

14 : 1 ; John 5 : 9; 9 : 14). 2d. That in these incidents 
there is nothing to indicate that the Lord in- 
tended to do away with the Sabbath day. 3d. 
That, on the contrary, his assertions, The Sab- 
bath was made for man, and, The Son of man is 
Lord of the Sabbath day, indicate its perpetuity 
as a Christian institution. 4th. That he does 
vigorously sweep away the traditions and inter- 
pretations of the rabbis, who had converted this 



164 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XII. 



16 And charged them that they should not make him 
known : 



17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 
Esaias the prophet, 8 saying, 



day of rest into a day of irksome bondage. 
5th. That by implication he repudiates all inflexi- 
ble rules which trammel the Sabbath day, and set- 
tles it on a new basis of principle, enunciated in 
the two declarations, The Sabbath was made for 
man, and he is, therefore, to use it in the way best 
calculated for his highest good, and It is lawful 
to do good on the Sabbath days, i.'e., work, the 
■sole object of which is the true welfare of others, 
is not prohibited by the requirements of a true 
Sabbatical rest. 

Ch. 12 : 15-21. THE GENTLENESS OF JESUS. Jesus 

ILLUSTRATES HIS OWN TEACHINGS : DOES NO RIGHT- 
EOUSNESS TO BE SEEN OF MEN (Matt. 6 : 1).— His 
HONOR : THE BELOVED OF GOD ; HIS POWER : THE SPIR- 
IT of God ; his office : the Divine Revealer to 

ALL NATIONS ; HIS METHODS : QUIET, GENTLE ; HIS TEN- 
DERNESS : HE DESPISES NOT THE POOR AND FEEBLE ; 
HIS GLORY : THE SAVIOUR OF ALL NATIONS. 

Parallel with verses 15 and 16 is Mark 3 : 7-12, 
which is fuller. He departed to the sea, and 
procured a small boat to escape from the multi- 
tude. The rest of this passage (verses it-si) is pecu- 
liar to Matthew. 

15. But Jesus knowing this. The impli- 
cation of the original, unlike that of our transla- 
tion, is that he knew it at once. Compare Matt. 

9 : 4. Withdrew himself. By his example 
he enforces his directions to his disciples (Matt. 

10 : 23). Great multitudes followed him. 
His enemies were the ecclesiastical leaders ; he 
was still popular with the common people. 
Healed them all, i. e., all that were in need 
of healing. Compare chap. 8 : 16, and note there. 

16. And charged them, etc. See note on 
Matt. 8 : 4. 

17. That it might be fulfilled. The origi- 
nal is nearly equivalent to so was fulfilled (Gr. ira 
rtiijooj S-f t ). It, however, embodies the idea that 
both the prophecy and the fulfillment were in 
accordance with God's purpose. For it is true 
that it was the purpose of Christ in life, char- 
acter, and death, to fulfil God's will concerning 
him. 

I may take this occasion to say to the Greek 
student, that I dissent from Alford's conclusion 
that "it is impossible to translate Via (hina) in 
any other sense than ' in order that.' " Sophocles 
( Greek Lex., art. Iva) has given a number of illus- 
trations, some from the Septuagint, showing 
that it is used in the later Greek otherwise than 
in a telic sense ; and there are passages in the 
N. T. where it cannot be rendered "in order 
that," without forcing an unnatural meaning 
upon the sacred text. John 13 : 34 affords a 



striking illustration: "A new commandment 
I give unto you, That (Ira) ye love one another ; 
as I have loved you, that (Ira) ye also love one 
another." It is certainly unnatural though not 
impossible to render the first 'Ira {hina) "in order 
that," i. e. to suppose Christ's declaration to be, 
I have given you a new commandment in order 
that ye love one another ; but it neither accords 
with common sense nor with other teachings of 
Scripture to give that meaning to the second 'Ira, 
so as to read, I have loved you in order that ye love 
one another ; for the springs of Christ's love are 
in himself. So here, while l\ a has a qualified telic 
sense, yet "in order that " would not fairly rep- 
resent its true significance, for it is impossible to 
believe that the reason why Christ was gentle, 
did not strive nor cry, bore patiently and long 
with the bruised reed and smoking flax, was that 
he might fulfill a prophecy. This would make 
Christ for the prophecy, whereas the prophecy is 
for Christ. The mistake — for in spite of Dean 
Alford's very positive assertion, I cannot regard 
it but as a mistake — arises from forgetting that 
the language of the N. T. is popular, not ab- 
struse, and conforms in many respects rather to 
the later than to the classical Greek. I may add 
that while Winer (§ 53, ir 10, sec. 6) in the main appears 
to sustain Alford's view, though he is less positive 
and seems to allow of some exceptions, the other 
view is maintained by Olshausen, Note on Matt. 
1 : 21 ; Owen, Note on same ; Ellieott, Note on 
Ephes. 1:17; Sophocles, Gr. Lex., Art. 'Iva.; 
Robinson, Gr. Lex. of N. T., Art. 'ha, and other 
scholars quoted in those authorities. Olshausen's 
argument appears to me to be quite conclusive 
on this subject. " This Evangelist (John) has 
used iIjozb once only (.John s : is) in all his writings ; 
and in that instance it is after a preceding ovriog; 
u7t(ag, too, occurs only in John 11 : 57. But it is 
inconceivable that John should not sometimes 
have wished to express the notion of mere conse- 
quence without intention. Such passages as 
John 4 : 34 ; 9:2; 15 : 13 ; 16 : 7 ; 17 : 3, show 
that he employed Iva for this purpose." 

17. Which was spoken by Esaias, i. e. 
Isaiah. The quotation is from Isaiah 42 : 1-4. 
It is apparently a quotation from memory, for it 
follows neither the original Hebrew nor the Greek 
version (the Septuagint) with verbal accuracy. 
The N. T. quotations from the O. T. afford a 
striking illustration of the biblical disregard of 
the letter, and a conclusive argument against the 
doctrine of verbal inspiration, i. e. the doctrine that 
the Holy Spirit dictated the words, and that the 
writers were mere amanuenses. That the English 



Ch. XII.] 



MATTHEW. 



165 



18 Behold ray servant, whom I have chosen ; my 
beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased : I will put 
my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the 
Gentiles. 

19 He shall not strive, nor cry ; neither shall any 
man hear his voice in the streets. 

■ 20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking 



flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment 
unto victory. 

21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust. 

22 Then 1 was brought unto him one possessed with 
a devil, blind and dumb : and he healed him, 
insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and 
saw. 



t Mark 3: 11: Luke 11 : 14. 



reader may note the contrast in phraseology, I 
transfer Henderson's translation of the original 



"Behold my servant whom I uphold ; 
Mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth ; 
I have put my spirit upon him ; 
He shall cause judgment to go forth to the nations ; 
He shall not cry nor raise his voice, 
Nor cause it to be heard in the streets. 
A bruised reed shall he not crush ; 
And a glimmering wick shall he not quench ; 
For permanence he shall cause judgment to go forth. 
He shall not glimmer [be dim], neither shall he be 

bruised, 
Till he have established judgment on the earth, 
And the maritime lands have waited for his law." 

18. My servant. The same word (*■«'<?) is 
translated child in Acts 4 : 27. It is the one em- 
ployed in Matt. 8:6; see note there. The phrase 
is used by Isaiah in various senses. It is applied 
to himself (isaiah 20 : 3), to Eliakim (22 : 20), to the 
Jewish people (« : 8, 9 ; u ■. 1, 2, 21 ; 45 : 4), and to the 
Messiah (42 : 1 ; so : 5-10 ; 52 : 13). Its application to 
the Messiah, in the passage from which this quo- 
tation is made, is recognized by most Jewish 
rabbis, and in the Chaldee paraphrase the inter- 
pretation is incorporated in the text, which reads, 
Behold my servant, the Messiah. Whom I 
have chosen. The Greek word (aiotrCw) here 
rendered chosen occurs no where else in the N. T. 
It is a different word from that employed in such 
passages as John 15 : 16, and does not involve the 
idea of selection from many, but of preferment 
and love. In whom my soul is well 
pleased. Compare Matt. 3 : 17 ; 17 : 5. And 
for the reason why God the Father is well pleased 
with the Son, see Phil. 2:9; Hebrews 1:9. I 
will put my Spirit upon him. Compare 
Matt. 3 : 16, 17 ; John 1 : 32-31 ; 3 : 34 ; 10 : 38 ; 
14 : 10. Observe that in some passages the Spirit 
of God is represented as taking on human nature 
(phu. 2 : 6, 7 ; Hebrews ? : le) ; and elsewhere, as here, 
the man Christ Jesus is represented as clothed 
with and inspired by the indwelling Spirit of 
God. Thus the Bible uses both forms of ex- 
pressing the incomprehensible character of Jesus 
Christ (see ver. 27) which in the church have been 
employed separately by antagonistic schools of 
theology. To the devout Arian Jesus Christ is 
a man in whom the Spirit of God peculiarly 
dwells ; to the devout Athanasian, he is the 



Spirit of God dwelling in and with a perfect man. 
And he shall announce judgment to 
the Gentiles ; rather to the nations, i. c. to all 
nations, including the Jews, but also including 
pagans. Compare Matt. 3 : 12, and note ; 25 : 31, 
32 ; John 5 : 22, 27. 

19. He shall not strive. Compare 2 Tim. 
2 : 24. Observe that though error was common 
in Christ's day, as in ours, he rarely if ever en- 
tered into a theological discussion. His preach- 
ing was not controversial, though sometimes 
doctrinal. He denounced sin (Matt. ch. 23), cor- 
rected error by instructing in the truth (chaps. 5 
and 6), but avoided debate (ch. 21 : 23-27). Nor vo- 
ciferate. Christ's preaching was not vocifer- 
ous ; his power was gentle. Compare Psalm 
18 : 35. Neither shall any man hear his 
voice in the streets. Of course to be under- 
stood as an elaboration of the preceding clause. 
Christ was characteristically a street and field 
preacher. 

20. A bruised reed. The reed was itself 
an emblem of weakness (see note on ch. 11 -.s). A 
bruised reed is one broken, but not entirely in 
two. The flax floating in oil was a common form 
of lamp ; the smoking flax is one almost extin- 
guished. The half-formed purpose he will not 
discourage ; the disheartened aspiration he will 
not extinguish ; the least glimmer of faith and 
love he will accept as a beginning ; he will not, 
by coldness or rebuke, destroy. Read this meta- 
phor in the light of chap. 11 : 28. "He who 
holds not a hand to the sinner, nor carries the 
burden for his brother, breaks the bruised reed ; 
he who despises the spark of faith in a little one 
extinguishes the smoking flax." — (Jerome.) Si- 
mon would have broken the bruised reed in the 
woman that was a sinner ; Christ forbade and 
strengthened the faltering purpose (Luke 7 : 37-48). 
The Pharisees would have extinguished the 
smoking flax in Zaccheus ; Christ fanned it into 
a flame of true penitence (Luke 19 : 1-10). Peter was 
a bruised reed whom Christ broke not (Luke 22 : 
55-62). Till he send forth judgment unto 
victory, i. e., until he brings long conflict with 
evil to an end by taking the judgment-seat and 
becoming conqueror as judge over all (1 cor. 15 : 25; 
Rev., ch. 20). The implication is, that the work of 
redemption will cease with the final judgment. 

21. And in his name shall the Gentiles 
trust. For parallel declarations of the univer- 



106 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIL 



23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not 
this the son of David ? 

24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This 
fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the 
prince of the devils. 

25 And Jesus knew their thoughts," and said unto 



them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to 
desolation ; and every city or house divided against it- 
self shall not stand : 

26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against 
himself ; how shall then his kingdom stand ? 

27 And if I by Beelzebub' cast out devils, by whom 



u Ps. 139 : 2 ; John 2 : 24, 25 v versa '. 



sality of Christ's kingdom of grace, see Isaiah 
49 : 6, 12 ; 51 : 4, 5 ; Matt. 28 : 19 ; Mark 16 : 15. 

12 : 22-42. HEALING OF DUMB AND BLIND, AND 
DISCOURSE THEREON. No evidence can convince a 

DETERMINED SKEPTIC. — THE ARGUMENT FROM MIRA- 
CLES, OP HEALING IN THE PAST, OP GRACE IN THE PRES- 
ENT : NONE BUT GOD IS STRONGER THAN SATAN.— In 

the conflict between good and evil there can be 
no neutrality. evert man is a subject of god or 
of Satan. — With Christ is always for Christ ; to 
be separate prom Christ is always to be against 
him. — All work that is not with Christ, wastes. — 
There are bounds to God's pardoning grace. — The 
unpardonable sin: treason against the holy 
Ghost.— The tree is more than its pruit; the 
character than conduct. — Words are the incar- 
nation of thoughts, the interpreters of the 
soul. — Our words are written in the record of 
our life. — The resurrection op Christ the evi- 
dence op Christianity. 

The time when this miracle was wrought, and 
the accompanying charges of the Pharisees and 
Christ's reply were uttered, is uncertain. There 
is no reasonable doubt that the three accounts 
given by Matthew here, by Mark (ch. 3 : 19-30), and 
by Luke (ch. 9 : 14-20), are all of the same incident 
and discourse, though some scholars have sup- 
posed its occurrence twice. Robinson places it 
almost immediately after the Sermon on the 
Mount. Townsend does the same. The internal 
evidence — the facts that so serious a charge was 
definitely brought against Jesus as that of co- 
operation with Beelzebul, and that the people 
designated him the Son of David, i. c, the Mes- 
siah, the first time this designation was given to 
him by the multitude — appears to me to point to 
a later period. It was probably subsequent to 
the charges made of eating with publicans and 
sinners (ch. 9 : 11) of blasphemy (ch. 9 : 3), and of 
Sabbath breaking (ch. 12:2, 10, etc.). The place ap- 
pears from Mark 3 : 22 to have been Galilee, and 
from same chapter, verses 20, 21, to have been in 
a house 

22. One possessed with a devil, or demon. 
See note on Demoniacal Possession, ch. 8, p. 85. 

23. Son of David. A common Jewish ap- 
pellation of the Messiah. See references in note 
on ch. 8 : 27. 

24. But when the Pharisees heard it. 
That is, when they heard what the people said. 
That they were present is indicated by Luke's 
phraseology "Some of them said." Mark gives 
a more definite description of these critics ; they 



were " scribes who came down from Jerusalem." 
There is nothing inconsistent in these different 
descriptions. They were, in office scribes, in 
sentiment Pharisees, at the time present with 
and part of the multitude. They said. Not 
openly, but to one another. This is evident from 
the language of the next verse. But by Beel- 
zebul the prince of devils. All the authori- 
ties agree that the reading here should be Beel- 
zebul. Beelzebub, or Baal-zebub (lord of flesh), 
was a god of the Ekronites (2 Kings 1 : 2). By the 
change of a single letter the Jews converted it 
into Baal or Beelzebul (lord of filth), and applied 
it to the prince of devils. In their demonology, 
the demons were divided into ranks or classes, 
Satan, or Beelzebul, or the devil, being the prince 
or chief of all. See on his character note on eh. 
4:1. 

Observe that during Christ's life it was never 
denied by his bitterest foes that he wrought 
miracles. Compare John 11 : 47. Even the 
Pharisees were compelled to admit the miracles 
which they attributed either, as here, to demo- 
niacal agency, or, as in their later books, to 
magical powers. A blasphemous Life of Jesus, 
compiled from the rabbinical authorities, asserts 
that he wrought them by possessing himself 
secretly of the incommunicable name of God 
kept in the Holy of Holies, and carefully guarded 
there ; and that the cause of his death was his 
deprivation, through the treachery of Judas, 
of the manuscript on which he had written this 
name and other mysteries there acquired. The 
first open denial of the reality of the miracles ap- 
pears as late as the second century in the works 
of Celsus. 

25. And Jesus knew their thoughts. 
Compare ch. 9:4; Heb. 4 : 13. Every king- 
dom divided against itself. The German 
version expresses the idea happily : Every king- 
dom not at one with itself (uneinS). History 
affords abundant illustration of this principle in 
human affairs. The principle itself constitutes 
an incidental but strong argument against sec- 
tarianism. See 1 Cor. 1 : 13. Observe that 
Christ recognized and set the seal of his approval 
on the Jewish conception of two kingdoms, of 
good and evil, with their angels and archangels. 
The kingdom of Satan is as definitely recognized 
by Jesus as the kingdom of God. And every * * 
house (nly.iu), here equivalent to household. 

26. If Satan cast out Satan. Satan is 



Ch. XII.] 



MATTHEW. 



167 



do your children cast them out? therefore they shall 
be your judges. 

28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then 
the kingdom™ of God is come unto you. 

29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's 



house, and spoil 1 his goods, except he first bind the 
strong man ? and then ne will spoil his house. 

30 He that is not with me, is against me J and he 
that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad. 

31 Wherefore I say unto you, All z manner of sin and 



ch. 6:33: Dan. 2 : 44 ; Luke 11 : 20 ; 17 : 21 ; Rum. 14: 17.... x Lia. 49 : 24; 53: 12; Rev. 12:7-10; 20: 2, 3....y 1 John 2: 19. 

z Murk 3 : 28 ; Luke 12 : 10. 



here evidently synonymous on the one hand with 
BeeLsebul, on the other with the demon which 
Christ has cast out, who is treated as one of 
Satan's emissaries. The passage shows conclu- 
sively that in New Testament usage demon is 
nearly equivalent to devil with us, not merely to 
spirit, as in classical usage. He is divided 
against himself: how shall then his king- 
dom stand ? It is true that the kingdom of 
Satan is in perpetual discord and anarchy, for to 
this the spirit of selfishness inevitably leads ; 
but in relation to the kingdom of heaven, it is at 
one. "Just as a nation or kingdom may em- 
brace within itself infinite parties, divisions, dis- 
cords, jealousies, and heart-burnings ; yet if it is 
to subsist as a nation at all, it must not, as re- 
gards other nations, have lost its sense of unity ; 
when it does so, of necessity it falls to pieces and 
perishes." — (Trench.) There is, however, a real 
as well as seeming unity in the kingdom of evil ; 
every evil influence eo-operates with others, and 
tends to render the soul more subject to sin and 
Satan ; and in all conflicts the hosts of evil natur- 
ally and instinctively ally themselves together; 
while the truth tends to the development of the 
individual conscience and to liberty of judgment 
and action in the individual, and so leads at first 
to divisions which only time and a riper develop- 
ment 'can cure. Contrast, for example, the unity 
of the Papal Church with the divisions among 
Protestants. 

28. By whom do your children cast 
them out? There are two interpretations of 
this verse. Chrysostom and the fathers gene- 
rally understand by "your children" the apos- 
tles. "He saith not 'my disciples,' nor 'the 
apostles,' but 'your sons,' to the end that if, in- 
deed, they were minded to return to the same 
nobleness with them, they might derive hence a 
powerful spring that way. ' ' — ( Chrysostom. ) And 
he interprets the argument thus : " If I so cast 
them out, much more those who have received 
their authority from me. Nevertheless, no such 
thing have ye said to them. * * * Therefore, 
also he added, ' they shall be your judges.' For 
when persons from among you, and having been 
practised in those things, both believe me and 
obey, it is most clear that they will also condemn 
those who are against me both in deed and 
word." But this interpretation is unnatural, 
and has probably been invented to avoid the 
difficulty felt in supposing that Christ imputes 
miraculous powers to the followers of the Phar- 



isees. The later and better interpretation un- 
derstands by "your children," the disciples of 
the Pharisees (see 2 Kings 2 : 3), and the argument to 
be, Tour own disciples assume to east out devils ; 
how do they accomplish it ? If in them it is 
an evidence of divine authority, what is it in 
me ? They, therefore, shall judge. Did, then, 
the disciples of the Pharisees cast out devils ? That 
they pretended to do so is certain. There is no 
other evidence in Scripture of such a practice 
than that contained here ; for the persons men- 
tioned in Luke 9 : 49, and in Acts 19 : 13, 14, as- 
sumed to cast out devils only in Christ's name ; 
the latter incident, however, implies a not un- 
common practice of exorcism. But there is 
abundant evidence of this practice in the rab- 
binical books. Josephus refers to it : "He (i. e. 
Solomon) left behind him the manner of using 
exorcism, by which they drive away demons, so 
that they never return, and this manner of cure 
is of great force unto this day " (Antiq. viii., ch. 
2, § 5). And he proceeds to give an account of 
the method pursued — a species of incantation 
In one passage (Wars of Jews, viii., ch. 6, §2) he 
gives an account of a root called barras, which 
can only be plucked in a particular manner, but 
which " quickly drives away those called demons, 
which are no other than the spirits of the wicked, 
that enter into men that are alive, and kill them, 
unless they can obtain some help against them." 
That the Pharisees claimed power to cast out 
devils is then clear ; but, notwithstanding Alford's 
argument, there appears to me to be nothing in 
the words of Jesus here to warrant the belief 
that they really possessed any such power. The 
argument is simply one ad hominem, and it is 
equally strong whether the exorcism of evil 
spirits was real or pretended. 

28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit 
of God. Literally in the Spirit of God, i. e. in 
the power of his Spirit; Luke says "with the 
finger of God." Then the kingdom of God 
is come unto you ; rather, as rendered in Luke, 
upon you. It comes upon the Pharisees and the 
devils, unto the disciples and the victims pos- 
sessed of devils. 

29. Or else, i. e., if the kingdom of God has 
not come, if one stronger than Satan is not here. 
How can one. Luke says "a stronger than 
he,'''' i. e., than Satan. The same Greek word 
(la/vQuteQ'ic), here translated "stronger," is 
used by John the Baptist to designate Jesus 

(Matt. 3:11; Lnke 3 : 16, there translated " mightier ")• Enter 



168 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XII. 



blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men : but the blas- 
phemy against the Holy Ghost 3 shall not be forgiven 
unto men. 
32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son 



of man, b it shall be forgiven him : but whosoever 
speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be for- 
given him, neither in this world, neither in the world 
to come. 



a Heb. 10 : 29 ; 1 John 5 ; 16 b Luke 7 : 34 ; John 7:12; 1 Tim. 1:13. 



into a strong man's house, except, etc. The 

strong man is Satan, his house is the whole do- 
main of evil. It is only by binding Satan that his 
power over the souls of men can be broken. 
Compare for interpretation of metaphor Isaiah 
40:10; 49:24,25; 53:12; Col. 2:15, and note 
on Luke 11 : 21, 22, where the metaphor is given 
more fully than here. 

30. He that is not with me is against 
me, etc. The converse of the proposition is also 
true, He that is not against us is on our part 
(Mark 9 : 40 ; Lake 9 : so). This is the consummation of 
the first part of the discourse, and leads to the 
second part. See on next verse. It sets forth 
the division of all moral beings into two king- 
doms of good and evil, God and Satan, in one 
or other of which every person is of necessity ; for 
there is no third kingdom. He that is not 
gathering with me, — for the final harvest, — is 
scattering abroad, does not gather for any 
harvest, but scatters, wastes. This is not a 
mere repetition of the first clause of the verse. 
The first asserts that he who is not Christ's fol- 
lower is his foe, and it classes the multitude, who 
were listening but not obeying, with the Phari- 
sees, and both with Satan and the devils; the 
second asserts tluit every act and influence in life, 
of the disciple as well as of him who is not, if it 
gather nothing for Christ and with him, scatters 
and wastes that which has been or is being 
gathered. Every act as well as every individual 
is with and for Christ or against him. For 
meaning of the word "gathering" see Matthew 
3 : 12 ; 13 : 30 ; of the word " scattering " see John 
10 : 12. Observe that throughout this verse the con- 
trast is not between him who is for Christ or who 
gathers for Christ and him who is against Christ 
or scattereth, but between him who is with 
Christ (Gr. /imu) or gathereth with Christ 
(owuyai) and him who is against Christ or scat- 
tereth. One can be for Christ only as he is with 
Christ. We are against him when we are not 
with him, i. e., in his fellowship. When we are 
in his fellowship we cannot be against him. Un- 
wisdom may make our work apparently scatter- 
ing, wasteful, useless ; but he gathers it if we 
have worked with him. Mary doing no work, 
only sitting at Jesus' feet, was for him ; Martha, 
cumbered about much serving, though for him, 
scattered, wasted her energies, because she was 
not with him in sympathy (Luke 10 : 35-42). 

30. Wherefore. This conjunction connects 
the discourse following respecting blasphemy 
against the Holy Spirit closely with what pre- 



cedes concerning the kingdoms of good and evil, 
God and Satan. Mark (3 : 30) gives the connection 
still more definitely: "Because they said, He 
hath an unclean spirit." I say unto you. A 
common introduction of a solemn assertion. See 
note on Matt. 5 : 18. Every sin and blas- 
phemy shall be forgiven. Our English ver- 
sion doubtless gives the sense : not every sin 
shall be forgiven, but every kind of sin ; that is, 
there is forgiveness through repentance for all 
sins except the one about to be mentioned. But 
the blasphemy of the Spirit. The word Holy 
is inserted by the translators in this verse to make 
it conform to the verse following. On the mean- 
ing of word blasphemy see below. 

32. Against the Son of man, i. e., the 
Messiah. See note on Matt. 10 : 23. It is not 
true, as some commentators have supposed, that 
the contrast is between speaking against the 
Messiah in his veiled condition and unfinished 
work, and slandering the same Person after the 
change of glory which the Holy Ghost was soon 
to throw around his claims, and in the full know- 
ledge of that, for the phrase "Son of Man" is 
used by Christ in describing himself both as 
coming in spiritual glory and power on the day 
of Pentecost (Matt. 10 : 23, and note), and subsequently 
to judge the world (Matt. 26: 64), and is quoted 
from Daniel and the rabbinical books, where it is 
an appellation of the Messiah. Neither in this 
world, neither in the world to come. All 
such attempts as that of Dr. Adam Clark to 
break the force of this language by such inter- 
pretations as "Neither in this dispensation, viz., 
the Jewish, nor in that which is to come, viz., 
the Christian," or that of Wordsworth, follow- 
ing certain of the fathers, "Is very unlikely to 
obtain pardon," are utterly inadmissible. The 
contrast here recognized between this world 
and the world to come is a common one among 
the Jewish rabbis, and no phrases could have 
been better adapted to cover, to the Jewish 
mind, the whole period of the soul's existence. 
There is certainly in this verse no necessary im- 
plication that there is forgiveness of any sin in 
the life to come, though that deduction has been 
drawn, even by Augustine ; on the other hand, 
there is positive assertion that there is a sin for 
which there can never be pardon. It would be 
impossible to employ language more definitely 
inconsistent with the idea that all men will be 
finally pardoned and restored to divine favor. 

Of blasphemy against the Holt Ghost. 
Volumes have been written respecting this utter- 



Ch. XIL] 



MATTHEW. 



169 



33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good ; 
or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt : 
for c the tree is known by his fruit. 



34 O generation" 1 of vipers ! how can ye, being evil, 
speak good things ? for out 6 of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh. 



c ch. 7 : 16, 17 d ch. 3 : 7 e Luke 6 : 45. 



ance of Christ. In the early church conflicting 
sects charged each other with this sin. The 
fathers attributed it to the Arians because they 
denied the divinity of Christ, to the Macedonians 
because they denied the Godhead of the Holy 
Spirit, and, in brief, to all heretics because they 
spoke evil of the Holy Spirit's work. In later 
times multitudes ' have yielded themselves to 
despair, supposing themselves guilty of it. It 
has been variously defined as, Persistent resist- 
ance to the influence of the Third Person of the 
Trinity ; Impious speaking against the Holy 
Ghost ; Attributing the works of God to Satan ; 
A wanton and blasphemous attack on the divine 
nature and power of Christ ; A contemptuous 
treatment of Christ, not as he then appeared in 
his humiliation, but as he was ere long to appear, 
when his mission and character should be at- 
tested by the Holy Ghost ; Not a particular act 
of sin but a state of sin, a wilful, determined op- 
position to the blessed power of the Holy Spirit ; 
Not a sinful state of mind, but one great and 
deadly sin, which, when committed, renders for- 
giveness absolutely impossible. It has been sup- 
posed that the Pharisees had committed it, and 
Christ denounced this woe upon them ; that they 
had not committed it, but approached its com- 
mission, and Christ warned them of their danger. 
To a certain extent the sin appears to be left 
purposely undefined, the note of warning to be 
indefinite, that it may caution all against trans- 
gressing the bounds beyond which forgiveness 
never reclaims. In seeking to understand 
Christ's meaning, and governing ourselves by 
the canon, we are to understand him as he would 
expect to be understood by his auditors, the fol- 
lowing facts are to be considered, (a) There is 
an unpardonable sin ; a sin, be it act or state, for 
which there is no space for forgiveness. It is 
possible to go beyond the reach of God's mercy. 
(6) There are hints of such a sin elsewhere in 
the N. T. In the study of this subject these 
should be carefully examined. The principal 
passages are the following : Heb. 6 : 4-6 ; 10 : 
26-31 ; 12 : 15-17 ; 1 John 5 : 16. (c) The connec- 
tion in this discourse is close between Christ's 
previous reference to the oppugnance of the two 
kingdoms of good and evil, and his allusion here 
to blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. " Where- 
fore," i. e., because he that is not with me is of 
necessity against me, " I say unto you, All man- 
ner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven except 
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost." (d) It 
is also closely connected with the accusation 



brought against Christ by the Pharisees, This 
fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebul 
the prince of devils, (see Mark 3 : 30.) If they 
were not guilty of this sin they were approach- 
ing it. (e) The language used by Christ in de- 
scribing the sin had a more definite meaning with 
the Jews than it has with us. The Spirit of God 
was not first revealed at Pentecost. The phrase 
is of constant occurrence in the O. T. (Eiod. 31 : 3 ; 

Numb. 11 : 26 ; 1 Sam. 10 : 10 ; 19 : 20 ; Psalm 137 : 7 ; 143 : 10 ; 
Isaiah 48 : 16 ; Ezek. 11 : 24, etc.). As USed here by JeSUS, 

it would be understood by his auditors in the 
O. T. sense, viz., neither as the Third Person of 
the Trinity, for the doctrine of three Persons in 
one God was unknown to the Jews, nor as the 
divine power in Jesus Christ, for his divinity was 
not recognized fully, even by the disciples, till 
a later period, but as God manifest in personal 
presence and power in and upon the hearts of men. 
(/) The word blasphemy had a well defined 
meaning to the Jews. It was the designation of 
a crime defined by statutes, and punishable by 
death. Under the theocracy Jehovah was king 
of the Jews. He at first appointed directly all 
subordinate officers, and held, in his own name, 
all the land ; later the kings were his own 
anointed, and ruled in his name. To do aught to 
diminish reverence and allegiance to him was 
the blasphemy of the O. T., a crime answering 
to treason in our own times, and was carefully 
defined and rigorously punished by the Mosaic 

laws. (For laws, see Exod. 20 : 1-7 ; 22 : 20 j Deut. 13 : 1-5 ; 18 : 
19, 20 ; Numb. ch. 16 ; 20 : 7-12 ; 1 Kings 18. See also Abbott's Jesus of 

Nazareth, ch. xixv.) It was of this crime that Jesus 
was accused, and for it condemned by the San- 
hedrim, because he assumed a divine character, 
and claimed divine honors (Matt. 26 : 63-66). (g) The 
warning here was uttered by Christ, not to infi- 
dels and open opposers of the kingdom of God, 
nor to hardened, flagrant, and undisguised sin- 
ners ; but to the Pharisees, who claimed to be 
leaders in the Jewish theocracy, citizens in the 
kingdom which the Messiah was to inaugurate. 

I conclude, then, that by blasphemy against 
the Holy Ghost Christ's auditors would under- 
stand, not a hardness of heart, a state of wilful, 
determined, obdurate sin, though only out of this 
could it spring, nor every kind of evil speaking 
against either the Third Person in the Trinity or 
the divine nature and office of Christ, but treason 
by professed members of the kingdom of God against 
the Spirit of God, manifested in this instance by 
wilfully confounding the two kingdoms of good 
and evil, God and Satan, and attributing to the 



170 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XII. 



35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart 
bnngeth forth good things ; and an evil man, out of 
the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things. 

36 But I say unto you. That every idle word that 
men shall speak, they shall give account' thereof in the 
day of judgment : 

37 For by thy words? thou shalt be justified, and by 
thy words thou shalt be condemned. 



38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees 
answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign h trom 
thee. 

39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil 
and adulterous 1 generation seeketh after a sign ; and 
there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the 
prophet Jonas : 

40 For' as Jonas was three days and three nights in 



f Ecc. 12 : 14 ; Eph. 6 : 4, 6 ; Jude 15 g Prov. 13 : 3 h ch. 16 : 1 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 22 i Isa. 67 : 3. . . .j Jonas 1 : 17. 



diabolical agency of the latter the blessed oper- 
ations in merciful healing wrought by the 
former. But all wilful, wanton, determined op- 
position to the work of the Holy Spirit, either in 
others' hearts or our own, especially when en- 
gaged in by those who profess allegiance to the 
Holy Ghost, approximates this sin. 

33. Either make the tree good and his 
fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt 
and his fruit corrupt. The direct connec- 
tion with the preceding verses appears to be 
this : Be consistent ; either represent the casting 
out of the devil from the possessed as bad, or else 
acknowledge the power that has done it to be 
good. But the lesson is of wider application ; 
for it is not without significance that Christ uses 
the word malce (Gr. nmim), which never appears 
to be used in the N. T. as merely equivalent to 
represent. The parable has a bearing on all 
work of reformation, public or individual, as well 
as on all judgments of real or pseudo reformation. 
We must always work at the tree if we wish to 
affect the fruit (see John 3 : 6). For the tree is 
known by his fruit. Nevertheless, the tree 
is more than the fruit, just as the treasure of the 
heart (veree 35) is more than the speaking. Com- 
pare with this verse Matt. 7 : 15-20, and note. 

34. O offspring of vipers. See Matt. 3 : 7, 
and note. How can ye, being evil, speak 
good things. Observe how even here, where 
Christ gives prominence to conduct (of the 
tongue), he still recognizes character (the being 
evil) as the source and root of conduct, and as 
that which must be changed. It is not merely 
the speaking against the Holy Ghost which is the 
unpardonable sin, but that kind of being evil 
which leads to such speaking. For out of the 
abundance. Literally overplus (Gr. Tceglaacofia, 
what is over and above). The speaking not only in- 
dicates the state of the heart, but indicates much 
more than appears in the words. And observe 
the implication, that the words are evil because 
they are indicators of the evil state within. 

35. The good man out of the good trea- 
sure , i. e., out of the character, which is a treasure 
or accumulation of all previous education, train- 
ing, and habits. The words "of the heart " are not 
in the best manuscript ; they were probably in- 
serted there from the preceding verse. Luke 
(6 : 45) gives almost the same aphorism in his re- 
port of the Sermon on the Mount. 



36. Every idle word. This is not merely 
equivalent to evil word, though it includes such. 
The original (ugyu?) is used in the N. T. to desig- 
nate unemployed persons (Matt. 20 : 3, 6, etc. ; 1 Tim. 
5 : 13, etc.), and in the classics, money lying without 
interest, and land unfilled, and a fallacious argu- 
ment, i. e., one that comes to no true result. 
Here the meaning is every non-productive word ; 
every word that adds nothing, either to the pre- 
sent happiness or the permanent usefulness of 
others, all talking for the mere sake of talking, 
and of course all words of falsehood, malice, and 
injury. "That is idle which is not according to 
the fact, which hath in it unjust accusation ; and 
some say that which is vain also, for instance, 
provoking inordinate laughter, or what is filthy, 
and immodest, and coarse." — (Chrysostom.) Com- 
pare Ephes. 4 : 29 ; 5 : 3, 4. 

37. For by thy words, etc. Literally out 
of thy words. Compare Rev. 20 : 12, where the 
same Greek preposition (ix) is rendered out of. 
The dead were judged out of those things which 
were written in the books. Here the declaration 
is that words form a basis for the last judgment. 
But the reason must not be forgotten ; because 
the words are indicators of the heart which is to 
be judged. By our words we are writing the 
history of our lives and preparing the record for 
the judgment day. Compare with this portion 
of Christ's discourse, James, ch. 3. 

38. Then certain * * * answered, saying, 
Master. Observe the language of respect. A 
portion had tried open reproach ; others tried 
flattery. Compare Matt. 22 : 16-24 ; Luke 20 : 
21-28 ; and observe how Christ receives the hypo- 
critical advances of pretended respect. We 
would see a sign from thee. The same Greek 
word (mifteior) is often rendered miracle. A 
miracle had just been wrought in the casting out 
of the evil spirit. Luke explains the demand 
more definitely : "A sign from heaven" (compare 
Matt. 16 : 1), i. e., a sign in which the interference 
from above should be more evident and palpable, 
a miracle not wrought by him but from above. 
The same demand is made by modern scepticism, 
which calls for a repetition now of the N. T. 
miracles. See, for example, Renan's Life of 
Jesus, p. 44, intro. Am. Ed. 

39. An evil and adulterous generation. 
It was literally an adulterous generation. See 
Matt. 19 : 3-9, and notes. But the O. T. symbol- 



Ch. XII.] 



MATTHEW. 



171 



the whale's belly; ; so shall the Son of man be three 
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 

41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with 
this generation, and shall condemn 11 it ; because they 
repented at 1 the preaching of Jonas j and, behold, a 
greater than Jonas is here. 



42 The m queen of the south shall rise up in the judg- 
ment with this generation, and shall condemn it : tor 
she" came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear 
the wisdom of Solomon ; and, behold, a greater than 
Solomon is here. 

43 When" the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, hef 



k Rom. 2 : 27. . . .1 Jonas i 



m Luke 11 : 51, etc. . . .n 2 Chron. 9:1 o Lake 11 : 24 p Job 1 : 7 ; 1 Pet. ; 



ism gives to the phrase here a spiritual signifi- 
cance. Israel was married to God (isaiah 54 : 5 ; jer. 
8 : u), and because faithless to him was compared 

tO an adulteress (Jer. 3 : S-13 ; Ezek. 1G : 38 ; ch. 23, etc.). It 

is the godless that demand a sensuous manifesta- 
tion of the Deity ; the true children of God know 
him by his spiritual presence (John 14 : n. Compare 
1 Cor. 1 : 22, 23). But the sign of the prophet 
Jonas, i. e., of Jonah. This declaration is in- 
terpreted by the following verse. 

40. For as Jonah * * * was in the belly 
of the great fish. The account is given in 
Jonah, chaps. 1 and 2. The word whale is a mis- 
translation. There is nothing in the original 
Greek here to indicate the species of fish, and 
nothing in the O. T. account. Observe that Christ 
gives his personal sanction to the account of this 
miracle, which, more than any other in the O T., 
has been subjected to criticism and even ridicule. 
We must either accept the O. T. history of this 
miracle or believe that Jesus was a deceiver or 
was himself deceived. So shall the Son of 
man be three days and three nights in the 
heart of the earth. He, in fact, died Friday 
afternoon at three o'clock, and rose again on 
Sabbath morning, so that he was in the heart of 
the earth only two nights and one day and a part 
of two others. But Jewish reckoning accounted 
part of a year as a whole one in estimating royal 
reigns, and a part of a day as a whole one in 
statements of time ; so that Christ's statement 
accords exactly with the facts as the Jews would 
have stated them. See for illustration Gen. 40 : 
13, 20 ; 1 Sam. 30 ; 12, 13 ; 2 Chron. 10 : 5, 12. 
The birth of Christ is typified by the birth of 
Isaac and Mahershalalhashbaz, his death by that 
of Abel and the substitute for Isaac and the ap- 
pointed sacrifices in the Temple, his resurrec- 
tion by the deliverance of Isaac from death, 
Daniel's deliverance, and most of all by Jonah's. 
Observe that Jonah (2:2) speaks of his prayer as 
being heard " out of the belly of hell," i. «., Hades 
(see note on Matt. 5 : 22). Christ unmistakably recog- 
nizes in the miraculous deliverance of Jonah a 
parable of his own resurrection. Luke gives it, 
if possible, even more clearly (chap. 11 : 30) : As 
Jonah, not his preaching, but Jonah himself by 
his deliverance, was a sign unto the Ninevites, so 
shall also the Son of man be, by his resurrection 
from the dead, to this generation. Observe that 
the first preaching of the apostles, on and after 
Pentecost, consisted largely of a personal testi- 



mony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 2 : 

24-30 ; 3 : 15 ; 5 : 31 ; 7 : 52, 56 ; 10 : 39, 40 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 3-8, etc.). 

41. The men oi Nineveh shall rise in 
judgment. Observe the incidental confirma- 
tion of the doctrine of a general resurrection of 
both good and evil, and of a general judgment. 
A greater than Jonah is here, i. e., there is 
more in the presence and power of Christ and 
his word to produce repentance than in the 
preaching of Jonah. The practical application 
is that at the present day the argument for the 
truth of Christianity is stronger, and the influ- 
ence to produce repentance for sin and faith in 
a Saviour are greater, than they ever were be- 
fore ; wherefore, the condemnation of those that 
resist is heavier. Compare with this and the 
succeeding verse, Matt. 10 : 15, and note. 

42. The queen of the south. The inci- 
dent referred to is related in 1 Kings 10 : 1-13, 
where she is called the Queen of Sheba, i. e., 
probably the Sabeans, descendants of Seba. 
There were two, a son of Cush, whose descend- 
ants settled in Ethiopia, and a son of Joktan, 
whose descendants settled in Arabia. Both 
these countries have traditions respecting the 
visit of a queen to Solomon. Josephus and the 
rabbinical writers place the kingdom of Sheba in 
Ethiopia ; but it appears to be the better opinion 
that the queen referred to came from Arabia. 
This accords best with her gifts (l Kings io: a), and 
is maintained by Alford, Bawlinson, Poole, and 
others. From the uttermost parts of the 
earth. It is estimated that she must have taken 
a journey of no little hazard, and of over 1,000 
miles. To the ancient Jews her kingdom was on 
the extreme borders of the known world. To 
hear the wisdom of Solomon. Observe, not 
attracted by the fame of his external grandeur, 
but by that of his wisdom. Compare 1 Kings 
10 : 1 : " she came to prove him with hard ques- 
tions." A greater than Solomon is here. 
Not merely because moral greatness is greater 
than temporal, but because spiritual wisdom is 
greater than political. Observe, too, that Jesus 
assumes pre-eminence above Jonah the prophet, 
Solomon the king, and Abraham the patriarch 

(comp. John 8 : 58). 

Ch. 12 : 43-45. PARABLE OF THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT. 
Tbtje and false reformation. The true: God 
casts the evil spirit out ; the false : the evil 
spirit goes out ; the true : grod occupies the soul ; 



172 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XII. 



walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth 
none. 

44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from 
whence I came out ; and when he is come, he findeth 
it empty, swept, and garnished. 

45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven 
other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter 
in and dwell there : and the last state of that man is 
worse' than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this 
wicked generation. 

46 While he yet taflced to the people, behold, his 1 



mother and his brethren" stood without, desiring to 
speak to him. 

47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and 
thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 

48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, 
Who is my mother ? and who are my brethren ? 

4q And he stretched forth his hand toward his dis- 
ciples, and said, Behold my mother, and my brethren ! 

50 For whosoever shall do the will' of my Father 
which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, 
and mother. 



q Heb. 6:4; 10 : 26 ; 2 Pet. 2 : 20, 52.... r rk 3 : 31, etc. ; Luke 8 : 19, etc....s ch. 13 : 55.... t ch. 7 : 20; John 15 ; 11; Gal. 5:6; 

Hub. 2 : 11 ; 1 John 2 : 17. 



THE FALSE : IT REMAINS EMPTY.— MERELY NEGATIVE 
REFORMATION IS NEVER PERMANENT. 

43-45. This is a parable ; nothing, therefore, 
is to be deduced from it concerning demoniacal 
possessions, except perhaps the reality of such 
possessions. Unclean spirit. See note on 
Demoniacal Possession at close of chapter 8, p. 85. 
Dry places. Rather desert places, which the 
Jews believed to be the abode of evil spirits. 
See Isaiah 13 : 21, and 34 : 14, where satyr prob- 
ably represents an imaginary demon, half man 
half goat. My house. Still his, for he has 
gone, not been cast out by divine power. Empty. 
Literally at leisure, idle, and so vacant. The 
same Greek word {n/ulu^wv) appears in the Sep- 
tuagint in Exod. 5 : 8, 17. Idleness is always a 
preparation for the devil. Generation. (Gr. 
yeved.) This word here, as often in the N. T., 
would be better rendered nation. 

The lesson of this parable is twofold. Every 
reformation is transient unless : (a) The evil is 

Cast OUt by the power Of God (compare John 3:5); 

(6) is supplanted by the indwelling of God 
(compare John is : 4). The direct application is to 
the Jewish nation. The evil spirit of idolatry 
had gone out, but no spirit of true allegiance to 
God had taken its place ; and the nation, with- 
out any true religious life, was prepared for the 
worse spirit which showed itself in the rejection 
of our Lord, the fearful excesses which accom- 
panied the death of Jesus, and their subsequent 
history. The indirect application is to all re- 
formation, which is permanent only when we 
overcome evil with good (Rom. 12 : 21 ), in church, 
state, or individuals. It is illustrated histori- 
cally by Prance, out of which went the spirit of 
Jesuitism, only to make room for that of athe- 
ism and socialism, and individually by thousands 
who cast out an evil habit, but receive not the 
Spirit of God, Compare Heb. 6 : 4-C ; 2 Pet. 2 : 
20-22. 

Ch. 12 ; 46-50. ATTEMPT BY CHRIST'S MOTHER TO 
INTERRUPT HIS PREACHING. Christ obeys his law ; 
forsakes mother and brethren to preach the 
Gospel. — The true disciples of Christ are the 
nearest to him in love. — christ's love for his dis- 
ciples is personal, the love of a brother.— the 



condition of nearness to christ : doing the well 
of his Father. 

This incident is recorded also in Mark 3 : 31- 
35, and Luke 8 : 19-21. Luke places it after the 
parable of the sower ; Mark agrees in order with 
Matthew. The circumstances — the crowd, the 
discourse delivered in the house, the enmity of 
the Pharisees, confirm Matthew's chronology. 

46. His brethren. Presumptively his real 
brethren as his real mother. See note on chap- 
ter 13 : 55. Stood without, i. e., without the 
house in which he was teaching (Mark 3 : 19, 20). 
Desiring to speak with him. Mark explains 
why : " They went out to lay hold on him ; for 
they said, He is beside himself " (Mark 3 : 21). Their 
endeavor was to interrupt his preaching, and so 
to rescue him from the danger of a conflict with 
the Pharisees, which he was provoking. To the 
worldly-wise, spiritual enthusiasm always 6eems 
craziness. Compare Acts 26 : 24 ; 2 Cor. 5 : 13. 

47. And one said to him, Behold, etc. 
Mark says that his mother and brethren sent 
unto him. 

48. Toward his disciples, i. e., toward the 
twelve. 

49. For whosoever shall do the will of 
my Father. Compare Matt. 7 : 21 and note, and 
John 14 : 23. The same is my brother, and 
sister, and mother. The personality of our 
relationship to Christ is elsewhere illustrated 

(John 10 : 3, 14 ; 15 : 15 ; Ephes. 5 : 25, 32), but nowhere more 

clearly. "To be the brother of Christ and the 
Son of God — have we ever measured the full 
meaning of those words ? " Observe that Christ 
places every true disciple on an equality with his 
mother. For the bearing of this passage on 
Mariolatry, see Chrysostom, whose comments 
show what the early fathers would have thought 
of that practice and the doctrines with which it 
is connected. "That which she wanted to do 
was of superfluous vanity ; in that she wanted 
to show the people that she hath power and 
authority over her son." " How many women 
have prayed that they might become such mo- 
thers? What, then, is there to hinder? It is 
granted not to women only, but to men also, to 
be of this rank, or rather of one yet far higher." 



Oh. XIIL] 



MATTHEW. 



173 



His practical deduction is also worth noting : 
"There is only one nobleness, to do the will of 
God. This kind of noble birth is better than the 
other, and more real." Compare with Christ's 
example here his teaching to his disciples in such 
passages as Matt. 10 : 35-37 ; Luke 9 : 59-63 ; and 
14: 36. 

Ch. 13 : 1-53. PARABLES BY THE SEA-SHORE. 
Christ a popular preacher. — His authority sanc- 
tions FIELD PREACHING (V. 2). — His USE OP ILLUSTRA- 
TIONS : NOT TO ENTERTAIN, NOT MERELY TO INSTRUCT, 
BUT TO GIVE TRUTH ENTRANCE TO RELUCTANT HEARTS 

(v. 13). — His magazine of illustrations : nature and 

COMMON LIFE. — THE SEVEN SYMBOLS OF THE KINGDOM 

of God. — It grows gradually (Mark 4 : 26-29).— Its 

OBSTACLES IN THE HUMAN HEART: INDIFFERENCE, 
IRRESOLUTION, WORLDLTNESS (vs. 18-23). — THEIR SE- 
CRET cause: evtl seed sown by Satan (vs. 37-43). — 
Its progress : from the least seed to the largest 
herb (vs. 31,32). — The method of its growth: by 
permeation, by agitation, secretly, silently, sure- 
ly (v. 33). — Its value and its cost : all that a man 
hath (vs. 44-46). — Its final perfection: complete 

PURIFICATION, AFTER DEATH, IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT 

(vs. 47-50 ,i.-See, further, thoughts on each parable. 

PRELTMTNAitY Note. — Of these parables we 
have three reports. See Mark 4 : 1-34 and Luke 
8 : 4-15. Matthew's report is the fullest ; seve- 
ral of the parables are given only by him, but 
Mark gives one omitted by the others (Mark 4 : 26-29). 
Luke gives only the parable of the Sower. 

1. Were these seven parables uttered at one time ? 
It is tolerably evident that they did not consti- 
tute one discourse, for it is incredible that Christ 
should have interrupted such a discourse to in- 
terpret the parables to the twelve, and then re- 
sumed it again (ver. 10, 36). It is clear that they 
were delivered at one period in his ministry, prob- 
ably on the same day (ver. 53). They are all upon 
the same theme — the kingdom ofGod ; they are 
therefore to be studied together, however they 
may have been uttered. 

3. What is a parable ? The original Greek word 
(nunaloh'i) signifies, literally, placing side by side — 
hence a comparison. The parable always teaches 
by comparing a spiritual truth with some type or 
symbol, in nature or human experience. It dif- 
fers from a fable, which teaches only maxims of 
a prudential morality, and which, in its teaching, 
violates the truth of nature — representing the 
brute and inanimate world as reasoning, reflect- 
ing, speaking. This the parable never does, for 
it always compares truth with truth or with re- 
alistic fiction — never with an impossible and un- 
natural narrative. Judges 9 : 7-16 is, I believe, 
the only instance of a fable in the Scriptures. 
It differs from a myth, which represents fiction 
as fact, and in such guise that it is assumed to be 
a fact by the auditor, who often sees no moral 
meaning underneath it. Thus the myth of Wil- 
liam Tell shooting the apple from his son's head 



was long received as history, and its original sig- 
nification is now entirely lost. This can never be 
true of a parable. It differs from an allegory, 
which upon its face declares itself to be a symbol 
of spiritual truth, and conveys the truth in tbe 
story, not by an application or interpretation of 
it ; whereas the office of a parable is to veil the 
truth until it has been admitted into the mind 
reluctant to receive it. John 15 : 1-8, "I am the 
Vine," is an allegory ; Luke 13:6-9, "A certain 
man had a fig- tree," is a parable. It differs from 
a proverb in that it elaborates dramatically what 
proverbs, or rather certain kinds of proverbs, 
state concisely. Thus, "If the blind lead the 
blind, both shall fall into the ditch," could be 
readily converted into a proverb. So, again, 
Psalm 103 : 13, "Like as a father pitieth his chil- 
dren, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him," is 
a proverbial utterance which the Parable of the 
Prodigal Son embodies in a dramatic form. A 
parable, then, is a fictitious narrative, true to na- 
ture, yet undeceptive, veiling a spiritual truth, un- 
der a symbol, for the purpose of conveying it to 
minds reluctant or indifferent. It differs from the 
proverb in being a narrative, from the fable in 
being true to nature, from the myth in being un- 
deceptive, from the allegory in that it veils the spirit- 
ual truth. 

3. Why did Christ speak in parables? He an- 
swers the question in this chapter (ver. 11-15) ; and 
his language in Mark is still more definite : " That 
(Greek Xva) seeing they may see and not perceive ; 
and hearing they may hear and not understand" 
(Mark 4:12). This answer is interpreted by the 
nature of the parable and its general object, viz., 
to veil the truth for the purpose of inculcating 
it. Christ did not use the parable because (a) 
he would have hazarded his life if he had openly 
taught the truth (Barnes) ; for when did he re- 
fuse to hazard his life for the sake of teaching 
the truth ? and was it not the plainness of his 
final teaching which led to his crucifixion ? 
Nor (6) to compel his auditors to give closer 
attention if they would get the benefit of his 
teaching (Kuinocl, Bloomfield, Andrews) ; for God's 
avowed and unmistakable design is to afford in 
Christ a revelation of truth for the plain and the 

Simple (isa. 35:8 J compare Psalm 19:7; 119 : 130). Nor (c) 

did he veil the truth as a punishment for the 
sins of the people in rejecting him (Scott, Dodd- 
ridge) ; for as yet they had not rejected him, but 
had received him with enthusiasm, even now 
crowded him into a boat for his pulpit, later 
sought by force to make him king (John 6 : 15). 
Nor is it rational to suppose that he would teach 
the truth blindly as a punishment for their re- 
jection of him ; rather he would cease to teach ; 
and after their rejection of him at Capernaum 

this Was in fact his COUrse (compare John 6 : 66 with Matt. 

i5:2i\ Nor (d) to make his meaning clear to 



174 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIIT. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat 
by the sea-side. 
2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto 
him, so that he went into a ship," and sat ; and the 
whole multitude stood on the shore. 



3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, 
saying, Behold,' a sower went forth to sow : 

4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way- 
side, and the fowls came and devoured them up : 

5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not 
much earth ; and forthwith they sprung up, because 
they had no deepness of earth : 



u Lake 5 : 3. . . .v Mark 4:2; Luke 8 : 5, etc. 



common understandings, as an orator commonly 
uses tropes and figures, for this is directly incon- 
sistent with Christ's own declaration, "That see- 
ing they may see and not perceive," and equally 
so with the fact that even his own disciples had 
to come to him for an interpretation of his par- 
ables (ver. io, 36). His object was so to veil the truth 
that it might be received by those who, if they 
saiv, would not perceive, and, if tliey heard, would 
not understand, lest they should be converted ; 
i. e., who were determined not to receive the truth, 
since its acceptance would have required repen- 
tance and a change of life. His object is illus- 
trated strikingly in other passages where by veil- 
ing he compelled the Pharisees to condemn them- 
selves. See Matt. 21 : 28-45 ; Luke 10 : 29-37. It 
is further illustrated by a consideration of — 

4. The object of the parables in this chapter. Up 
to this time Christ's preaching had been chiefly 
confined to a simple proclamation, The kingdom 
of heaven is at hand (Matt. 4 : n ; io : 7). The Ser- 
mon on the Mount afforded some interpretation 
of the principles of that kingdom, but primarily 
to his own disciples, and chiefly in contrast with 
the Mosaic law and the Pharisaic system. See 
Preliminary Note and Analysis there, pp. 45, 46. 
In these parables Christ discloses those features 
respecting his kingdom which were surest to 
encounter prejudice and opposition ; its growth 
depends on its acceptance by its subjects (verses 
19-23) ; it grows up with the kingdom of evil, not 
separated from it by natural or geographical 
boundaries (verses 37-43) ; it is a gradual growth, 
does not immediately appear (Mark 4: 20-29); it is 
obtained only through a process of conflict (verse 
33), and by self-sacrifice (vef. 44-40). These truths 
were in this exposition received without opposi- 
tion because but half understood ; later, when 
distinctly declared, they were vehemently re- 
jected. Compare for illustration the declaration 
here (versa 38), "The field is the world" (Gr. 
o xuauog) with the reception of the same truth 
when more plainly declared by Christ (Matt. 21 : 
43-10), and by'Paul (Acts 22 : 21, 22). 

5. Time, place, and circumstances of the utter- 
ance of these parables. The time is uncertain. It 
was toward the latter part of Christ's Galilean 
ministry. This is evident from the order of the 
three evangelists, and from the facts that the 
throng had now so increased that Christ sought 
refuge from it in a boat, and that now first he 



began to Interpret the nature of his kingdom, 
and to do so in parables. It was certainly sub- 
sequent to the developed hostility of the Phar- 
isees (chap. 12), and prior to the feeding of the 5,000 
(chap. 14), which was followed by the sermon in the 
synagogue at Capernaum (John, ch. 6), and Christ's 
withdrawal from Galilee (Matt. 15 : 21), and the close 
of his ministry there. The place is also uncertain. 
It was by the sea (ver. 1), i. e., of Galilee, on the 
western shore (see Mark 4 : 35, and note). The common 
life of the place affords the imagery of these 
parables. The fertile plain of Gennesaret (see note 
on Matt. 14 : 34), with its thorn bushes and its under- 
lying and occasionally out-cropping basaltic rocks 
in the midst of the fields of grain, suggests the 
stories of the Sower and the Tares. The com- 
merce from the East to the Mediterranean, the 
remains of which in an occasional caravan are 
still seen in the vicinity of the lake, the parable 
of the Merchantman ; the fishermen at work 
along the sea-shore, as on the day when Christ 
called four of his disciples here (Luke 6: 1-11), the 
parable of the Drag net. It is worthy of note 
that the location of many of Christ's parables 
can be measurably determined by their adapta- 
tion to special localities or local customs. Thus 
the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10 : 29-37) ; 
of the Vineyard (Luke 13 : 7-9), of the Good Shep- 
herd (John 10M-18), and probably of the Pharisee 
and the Publican (Luke is : 9-14), all belong to Judea, 
as that of the Sheep lost in the Wilderness (Luke 
15 : 4-7) to Perea, that of the Ten pounds (Luke 
19 : 12) to Jericho, where Archelaus, whose history 
suggested it, had a palace, and those here given 
to the region about the Sea of Galilee. See notes 
on above parables, and on John 7 : 37 and 8 : 12. 

1. The same day. The Greek word (i)/j.tQa), 
here translated day, is sometimes used loosely as 
equal to time or nearly so, and is so translated in 

Acts 8 : 1 (compare John 8 : 56 ; Acts 2 : 29). Here it 

may indicate nothing more than, At this period 
in Christ's ministry. Nearly all the chrono- 
logical notes in the Evangelists are indefinite. 
Tin house, apparently where the previous dis- 
course had been delivered (ch. 12 : 46, and note). The 
house could no longer hold his audience. Sea- 
side. The Sea of Galilee. See notes on Matt. 
4:18. 

2. Ship, i. c, fisherman's boat ; perhaps his 
own. See Mark 3 : 9. Sat. The usual attitude 
of the Jewish doctors in teaching. Compare Matt. 



s 



3 




Oh. XIII] 



MATTHEW. 



175 



6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched ; 
and because they had no root, they withered away: 

7 And some Fell among thorns ; and the thorns 
sprung up, and choked them: 

"8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth 
fruit, some an hundredfold, some siztyfold, some thirty- 
(old. 
9 Who" hath ears to hear, let him hear. 



io And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why 
speakest thou unto them in parables ? 

ii He answered and said unto them, Because it is 
given unto you to 1 know the mysteries of the kingdom 
of heaven, but to them it is not given. 

12 For? whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and 
he shall have more abundance ; but whosoever hath 
not, from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. 



j ch. 11 : 15 I ch. 11 : 25 ; Mark 4 : 11 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 10, 14 ; Eph. 1 : 9, 18 ; 3:9; Col. 1 : 26, 27 ; 1 John 2 : 27 y ch. 25 : 29 ; Luke 19 : 26. 



5 : 1, and Luke 4 : 20. Observe that we have the 
highest authority for street and field preaching. 
Observe, too, how utterly incongruous such an 
informal service with the idea that any kind of 
ritualism is an essential accompaniment of reli- 
gious instruction. 

3. Many things. At least one parable not 
recorded by Matthew. See Mark 4 : 26-29. In 
parables. See above, Preliminary Note, § 2. 

3-9. Parable of the Sowek. See interpre- 
tation below. (Mark 4:2-9; Luke 8:4-8.) The 
seed-time in Palestine is from 1st October to 1st 
November. But Thomson's Land and Book, i., 
115, implies that sowing is done in spring. It is 
always done by hand ; the ground is first scratched 
with a plough, which runs about four inches deep ; 
the seed is sometimes covered with a harrow, 
sometimes trodden in by the feet of animals ; the 
fields are not fenced or hedged ; the pathways 
run directly through them ; clumps of thorns are 
interspersed with the grain ; the farmers, who live 
in villages to guard against robbers, go forth to 
do their sowing. Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, 
ch. xiii., p. 418) gives a graphic description of 
Gennesaret as he saw it, the probable scene of 
this parable. "There was the undulating corn- 
field descending to the water's edge. There was 
the trodden pathway running through the midst 
of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed 
from falling here and there on either side of it, 
or upon it ; itself hard with constant tramp of 
horse, mule, and human feet. There was the 
'good' rich soil, which distinguishes the whole 
of that plain and its neighborhood from the bare 
hills, elsewhere descending into the lake, and 
which, where there is no interruption, produces 
one vast mass of corn. There was the rocky 
ground of the hillside protruding here and there 
through the corn-fields, as elsewhere through the 
grassy slopes. There were the large bushes of 
thorn — the ' Nabk,' that kind of which tradition 
says that the Crown of Thorns was woven — 
springing up, like the fruit-trees of the more in- 
land parts, in the very midst of the waving 
wheat." 

Way-side. Road or pathway. Stony places 
(Gr. nitoiiSrig). Rather, rock-like, i. e. places where 
the underlymg rock came close to the surface, 
having only a thin covering of soil. Thorns. 
There are a variety of thorny weeds common to 
Palestine. Smith's Biblical Dictionary describes 



five varieties. There is nothing in the original 
word here (uy.uv&a) to determine whether any 
particular species was intended. A hundred- 
fold * * * thirtyfold. Dr. Thomson (Land 
and Book, i., 117) says that thirty-three per cent, 
is now regarded a good crop ; but both land and 
laborers have deteriorated. 

10-17. Christ's Reason fob Teaching in 
Pakables. 

For general interpretation of this and the par- 
allel passage in Mark 4 : 10-12 and Luke 8 : 9, 10, 
see Preliminary Note above, § 3. 

10. And the disciples. Not merely the 
twelve, but others with them (Mark 4 : 10). Came 
unto him. " When he was alone" (Mark), and 
therefore not, as Alf ord, during a pause in the dis- 
course, but subsequent to it. Perhaps Matthew 
has interpolated the account of the interview 
here in order to combine the interpretation with 
the parable. Unto them. " To them that are 
without " (Mark), i. e., to the multitude. In par- 
ables. Parables were a common method of in- 
struction in vogue among the scribes. The rab- 
binical books abound with them. There is no 
sufficient reason for supposing that the rabbis 
borrowed this method from Christ ; it is more 
probable that he adopted the popular mode of 
his day, but gave new character to it. Trench on 
the Parables (Introd., § 4) gives some illustration 
of these Jewish parables. What surprised the 
disciples was not parabolic teaching, but its adop- 
tion, now for the first time, by our Lord. 

11. Because it is given. Observe that the 
language here and in the following verse is of 
grace as a gift. Compare Rom. 6 : 23 ; Ephes. 
2 : 8. Unto you. To whom ? To those that 
were "about him with the twelve," who came 
to him "and asked him of the parable" (Mark 
4 : 10), i. e., to those who sought to know the truth. 
There is no selection by Christ of a few for spe- 
cial instruction. He gives it to all those that seek 
it. Compare Isa. 55 : 1 ; Rev. 22 : 17. To know 
the mysteries. Scripture truth is always a 
mystery to the unspiritual (1 cor. 2 : 7-14). It can 
only be hinted at by parallels drawn from nature 
or common experience, e. g., the Saviour's care 
by the Shepherd's care, God's love by the love 
of an earthly father. 

12. For whosoever hath, etc. See same 
aphorism with a different application in ch. 25 : 29. 
Here it is : If one possess some spiritual knowl- 



176 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XIII. 



13 Therefore speak I to them in parables : because 
they seeing, see not ; and hearing, they hear not, nei- 
ther do they understand. 

14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias. 2 
which saith, By a hearing ye shall hear, and shall not 
understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not per- 
ceive : 

15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their 
ears are dull" of hearing, and their eyes they have 
closed ; lest at any time they should see with their 
eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand 



with their heart, and should be converted, and I 
should heal them. 

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see : and 
your ears, for they hear. 

17 For verily I say unto you, Thaf many prophets 
and righteous men have desired to see those things 
which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear 
those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. 

18 Hear" ye therefore the parable of the sower. 

19 When anyone heareth the word f of the kingdom, 
and understandeth it not, thencometh the wicked^ one. 



z Isa. 6 : 9....aEze. 12 : 2; John 12 : 40; Acts 28 : 26, 27 ; Rom. 11 : 8; 2 Cor. 3 : 14, 15 b Heb. 5 : 11 c ch. 16 : 17 ; Luke 10 : 53, 24; 

John 20 : 29; 2 Cor. 4:6 d Eph. 3 ; 5, 6 ; Heb. 11 : 13; 1 Pet. 1 : 10, 11 e Mark 4 : 14, etc.: Luke 8 : 11, etc f ch. 4 : 23 

g 1 John 2: 13, 14 ; 3 : 12. 



edge and desire, these lead to more ; if he has no 
appreciation of such spiritual truths as he can 
discern, he will lose even that power of spiritual 
discernment. The first part of this declaration 
is illustrated by Prov. 4 : 18 ; the second part by 
Rom. 1 : 38. 

13. Therefore speak I unto them in par- 
ables. See above Preliminary Note, § 3. 

14. Esaias. Isaiah 6 : 9, 10. Compare Isa. 
44 : 18. Observe that in the former passage the 
command is, Make the heart of this people fat, 
etc. ; here they are represented as making them- 
selves stupid. When God leaves man to himself 
he makes himself gross, dull, spiritually dead. 
Hearing * * * shall not understand, i. e., 
with the heart (ver. 15). Seeing * * * shall not 
perceive, i. e., though they see the truth intel- 
lectually they shall not appreciate it spiritually ; 
they see it as the horse sees the same prospect 
with his rider, without appreciation. 

15. Waxed gross; literally, fat. The growth 
of a fatty tissue about the heart is a common re- 
sult of self-indulgence and luxurious living, and 
dulls and deadens the whole system. Here the 
physical disease is a type of the spiritual. Their 
ears are dull of hearing. Literally, with their 
ears they hear heavily, i. e., they are not sensitive 
to the truth. Their eyes they have closed. 
The spiritual ignorance and obtuseness which 
Christ condemns is willful, deliberate, resolute. 
Compare Rom. 1 : 22-32, and the account in Matt. 
12 : 24 of the Pharisees, who, seeing the miracle, 
would not perceive in Christ the power of God. 
Compare Matt. 11 : 16-19. This is made yet clearer 
by the clause which follows : Lest at any time 
they should perceive — not see; the Greek word 
here is (uquoi) the same translated perceive in ver. 
14. It differs from (pUnai) see ; that conveys the 
idea of a mere external sight, but this of an inte- 
rior perception, here a spiritual perception. For 
its signification see John 1 : 18, "No man hath 
seen God at any time," i. e., understood his na- 
ture ; John 8:38, "I speak that which I have 
seen with my Father, and ye do that which ye 
have seen of your father," i. e., we each speak 
out of the treasure of our own personal expe- 
rience ; Acts 8 : 23, " I perceive that thou art in 
the gall of bitterness," i. e., I see through the 



fair seeming, and recognize your spiritual death. 
And should be converted, and I should 
heal them. Mark (4 : 12) indicates the kind of 
healing: "Lest their sins should be forgiven 
them" (Mark 4; 12). The reason why men shut 
their eyes to the truth is lest they should be led 
to repentance and reformation. Compare 2 Cor. 
4 : 3, 4. Observe, too, that the fault of remain- 
ing uuforgiven is never because forgiveness is 
wanting, but always because repentance and ref- 
ormation are refused. Even the Pharisees might 
have been converted by receiving the truth 
which Christ inculcated and following it. 

16,17. Observe the connection between the 
O. T. and N. T., that the latter is not the abroga- 
tion, but the fulfillment of the former (Matt. 5 : 17, 
and note), and that the O. T. saints lived in faith of 
Christ, represented more or less distinctly in the 
promises and types of the old dispensation. 
Compare Heb. 11 : 39, and see for illustration of 
the longing here referred to, 2 Sam. 23 : 5 ; Job 
19 : 23, 27 ; Luke 2 : 29, 32. For the reason why 
the eyes of the true disciples see and their hearts 
understand, see Psalm 119 : 110 ; Prov 24 : 35. 

18-23. Interpretation of the Parable of 
the Sower. 

18. Hear ye, i. e., with spiritual discern- 
ment (compare verses 15 and 16 above). Luke commences 

the explanation by the statement, The seed is the 
word of God (Luke8:ii). The "word of God" 
sometimes stands for the written or spoken 
word (Mark 7 : 13 ; Luke 5 : i), and sometimes for 
Christ himself (John 1 : 1, and notes there). But these 
are not incongruous representations ; the written 
word has life only because Christ is in it ; Christ 
makes it a seed. " Christ is the live seed, and 
the Bible the husk that holds it." — (Arnot.) 
Christ is also the Sower in this parable as in the 
following one (verse 37), and the only sower ; all 
good seed is sown by him ; apostles, prophets, 
ministers, teachers, and parents sow only as 
Christ is in them sowing the seed, as the Father 

Was in Him (John 14 : 10 ; 2 Oor. 5 : 20; compnre Matt. 10 ; 40). 

There is nothing inconsistent in the double char- 
acter thus attributed to him, for he sows himself 

(Luke 4 : 16-22). 

19. Every one hearing the word of the 
kingdom, i. e., the word or message concern- 



Oh. XIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



177 



and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. 
This is he which received seed by the way side. 

20 But he that received the seed into stony places, 
the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with 
joy h receiveth it : 

2i Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a 



while ; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth be- 
cause of the word, by and by he is offended.' 

22 He also that received seed among the thorns, is he 
that heareth the word ; and the care J of this world and 
the deceitfulness of riches' 1 choke the word, and he be- 
cometh unfruitful. 



h Isa. 58 : 2 ; Eze. 33 ; 31, 32 ; John 5 : 35 ; Gal. 4 : 15 i John 6 : 68. . . j Luke 14 : 1C-24 k Mark 10 : 23 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 9 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 10. 



ing trie kingdom of God, whether spoken, as by 
Christ and his apostles, or written, as in the 
N. T. and in books of interpretation and of spiri- 
tual application. And understanding it not. 
The original (avvlt\ui) signifies literally to put 
together, and so affords the true idea of spiritual 
understanding, which consists in putting the 
truth with the life, i. e., applying it to the life. 
This the teacher cannot do ; every hearer must 
do it for himself. Christ signifies not a failure 
to comprehend the truth intellectually, but to 
receive and apply it spiritually. For illustration 
of non-understanding of the truth see James 1 : 
23, 24.- Compare 1 Cor. 2 : 6-8, 14; 2 Cor. 3: 
14, 15 ; how to come to an understanding is told 
in verse 16 of same chapter. The reason why it 
is not understood is indicated here in verse 4. 
The heart is a road made hard by the traffic of 
the world. The seed cannot penetrate. Then 
cometh the wicked one. Luke says (s ■. 12) 
the devil. Observe that in the parable it is the 
fowls of the air which carry away the seed, and 
that in the application Christ imputes those wan- 
dering thoughts, which do the work of truth-rob- 
bers, to the evil one whose agents and instruments 
they are. And catcheth away. The same 
verb (uo««?cu) is rendered in John 10 : 12 catcheth, 
in same chapter, ver. 28, 29, pluck, in Acts 23 : 10, 
take by force. The devil is a robber, and is to be 
resisted as a robber. That sown in his 
heart. A transient impression on the affec- 
tions appears to be recognized even in this class 
of hearers. This is he sown by the way- 
side. Not, as in our English version, He that 
received seed by the way-side. It is implied here 
that the seed and the product are identical, and 
this is more clearly stated in Luke (s : 14), That 
which fell among thorns are they who * * * are 
choked with cares, etc. The "word" is not a 
mere intellectual proposition ; it includes faith 
and love in the teacher, who thus becomes the 
germ of faith and love in the taught. As the 
seed reproduces itself in the grain, so the living 
truth, the truth that springs from the heart, re- 
produces itself in the heart ; and thus as Christ 
is the Word of God, so every Christian is to be a 
word of God, an embodiment of the truth which 
he has received (see 2 Cor. 3 : 3). 

20. But that which is sown upon the 
rock ; not upon stony places, but in a soil which 
forms a thin covering of a ledge. The hardness 
of the second hearer is greater but less apparent 



than that of the first. Is he that heareth the 
word, and straitway with joy receiveth 

it. The joy that is one of the fruits of the 
spirit (Gai. 5 : 22) rejoices alway (phi. 4 : 4). The 
transient glow of quick emotion is often the sign 
of a shallow nature, not of deep feeling. 

21. Yet he hath no root in himself. The 
root gives the plant both life and stability. The 
hearer now described depends for both on others, 
not on sources within himself. Compare for 
analogous use of this metaphor Jer. 17 : 8 ; Hosea 
9 : 16 ; Eph. 3 : 17 ; Col. 2 : 7. But is for 
the time (7tQooy.a1.qos ionv). Not merely 
" dureth for a while," but if, by the nature of 
his hold upon the truth, only for the occasion 
which begot Ids interest. When tribulation or 
persecution ariseth through the word. 
This answers to the when the sun was up of the 
parable (verse c). Observe that, as the sun which 
sustains tie healthy plant withers the weak and 
ill-rooted, so tribulation strengthens real grace, 
and destroys the counterfeit. Observe, too, that 
the withering is not because of the sun, but 
"because they had no root.'''' The professed dis- 
ciple never fails because of his circumstances,, 
but always because the root is not in him. Strait- 
way he is offended, i. c, caused to fall into 
sin. See note on Matt. 5 : 29. Luke says " fall 
away." Compare 1 Tim. 4 : 1, and Heb. 3 : 12. 
where the Greek verb (dcptatrifii) rendered depart, 
is the same as that in Luke 8 : 13 rendered "fall 
away." In Pilgrim's Progress, Obstinate received 
the seed by the way-side, Pliable on stony 
ground. 

22. He that received * * * * is he that 
heareth, etc. See above on verse 19. The 
care of the world and the deceitfulness of 
riches. Observe the double aspect in which life 
presents its temptations — cares, anxieties, pres- 
sures to the poor, the deceitfulness of riches to 
the rich. It alternately threatens and cajoles. 
Compare Prov. 30 : 8, 9. Mark affords a hint of 
the secret cause of the temptation in both : The 
lusts of other things. Observe, too, Luke's lan- 
guage : Are choked with cares and riches and 
pleasures of this life. " Marvel not at his call- 
ing luxury thorns. For it pricks sharper than 
any thorn, and wastes the soul worse than care, 
and causes more grievous pain both to body 
and soul."— (Chrysostom.) Choke the word. 
Doubly— both by drawing from the root its 
moisture, the thoughts and attention from spiri- 



178 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIII. 



23 But he that received seed into the good ground, 
is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; 



which also bearetb fruit, 1 and bringeth forth, some an 
hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 



1 John 15 ; 6. 



tual things to worldly cares, and by excluding 
from the stalk the sun — shutting out from the 
soul the rays of divine grace. The church at 
Laodicea was thus choked with thorns (Rev. 3 : 17). 
Becometh unfruitful. Luke says, Bring no 
fruit to perfection. In the care-filled heart, as in 
the weedy soil, there may be some fruit, but it 
is both small in quantity and immature. Observe, 
the difficulty here is not merely with the soil, but 
with subsequent lack of cultivation. In spiritual 
as in earthly husbandry the reception of the seed 
must be followed by persistent and careful labor 
to make it fruitful. In both Nicodemus and 
Judas Iscariot there were weeds ; one rooted 
them out, the other suffered them to grow. 
Observe, too, that the cares which choke, like 
the seeds of thorns, are unrecognized, till they 
have grown ; and note Dr. Arnot's remark : 
"The thorns are at home, the wheat is an ex- 
otic ; the thorns are robust and can hold their 
own, the wheat is delicate and needs a protec- 
tor." 

23. But that which is sown upon good 
ground is he that heareth the word and 
understandeth it. Rather, Personally applies 
it (Gr. (jvyhjui). See above on verse 19. The in- 
terpretation is fuller in Luke : which in an honest 
and good heart having heard the word. Observe 
that Christ recognizes a measure of goodness in 
the heart before the word is received ; and ob- 
serve, also, that the goodness recognized consists 
not in any moral and spiritual life, but in a readi- 
ness to receive moral and spiritual life. "No 
heart can be said to be absolutely a good soil ; 
yet comparatively it may be affirmed of some 
that their hearts are a soil fitter for receiving the 
seed of everlasting life than those of others." — 
{Trench.) For illustration of good heart-soil, 
see Acts 17 : 11. Which also beareth fruit. 
The three conditions of useful hearing are indi- 
cated in this verse ; he that heareth the word, with 
attention ; and understandeth it, by personal ap- 
plication ; who also beareth fruit, by actual obe- 
dience. Compare Matt. 7 : 17 ; James 1 : 23, 24. 
Some an hundredfold, some sixty, some 
thirty. The usefulness of all Christians is not 
alike ; but all are alike dependent on the Sower 
for the seed of truth and life, which can alone 
bear fruit. 

Lessons op the Pakable of the Sowee. 
Luke indicates Christ's object in this par- 
able in the conclusion, Take heed, therefore, 
how ye 7iear (Luke 8 : is). Its general lessons 
are as follows : All spiritual life depends on 
a divine seed sown in the heart by the Di- 



vine Sower (1 Pet. 1 : 23). He sows on all hearts 
alike ; the life of the seed depends on, first, 
receiving it ; second, rooting it ; third, culti- 
vating it. The unfruitful hearers described are 
of three classes : The first hear, but heed noth- 
ing ; the second heed, but resolve nothing ; the 
third resolve, but persist not. The first hear, 
but without really apprehending the truth ; the 
second apprehend, but only for a transient emo- 
tional enjoyment — the truth gets no hold, and 
produces no real moral convictions or changed 
life ; the third hear, apprehend, and begin a new 
life, but suffer it to be choked by the world. 
The first receive a hindrance at the outset ; the 
second after the seed has germinated ; the third 
after it is well grown. In the first case the seed 
does not spring at all ; in the second it springs, 
but dies before it grows up ; in the third it grows 
up, but does not ripen. The first have no life ; 
the second have life, but only on the surface ; 
the third have life, but it is hindered and made 
unfruitful by the world. The first hearers are 
illustrated by the Pharisees, who refused to re- 
ceive the word ; the second by the Galileans, 
who heard with joy, but departed from Christ 
when he told them of his cross (John 6 : 66) ; the 
third by the heathen, who suffered Christianity to 
be corrupted and choked by their heathen habits 
and lives. Gallio (Acts 18 : w) exemplifies the first, 
the rich young ruler (Matt. 19 : 22) the second, Judas 
Iscariot the third. The first danger described is 
that of careless hearing ; its cause is a heart made 
hard by worldliness, and inattentive by wander- 
ing thoughts ; to guard against it, keep the heart 
tender and the attention fixed. The second dan- 
ger is that of mistaking emotion for principle — 
glad reception of the truth for resolute practice 
of it ; its cause is an underlying selfishness of 
life ; to guard against it, count the cost of fol- 
lowing Christ (Luke 14 : 25-33 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 3, 4). The third 

danger is worldliness, whether cares and anxie- 
ties, or pleasures and luxuries ; its cause is a 
divided heart and a divided service (Matt. 6 : 24) ; 
to guard against it, seek first the kingdom of 
God and his righteousness, and watch and pray 
against the first appearance of worldly-minded- 
ness. The first danger is passed when the truth 
is really received in the heart ; the second, when 
the good resolution has been tried by actual trib- 
ulation ; the third, never this side heaven. The 
first belongs peculiarly to childhood, the second 
to youth, the third to maturity. Most Christians 
in their experience illustrate each class. They 
are all at first utterly unreceptive of the word of 
God, because the heart is hardened by the world ; 



Oh. XIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



179 



24 Another" 1 parable put ne forth unto them, saying, 
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which 
sowed good" seed in his held : 

25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed 
tares among the wheat, and went his way. 

26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought 
forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 

27 So the servants of the householder came and said 
unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy 
field ? from whence then hath it tares ? 

28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. 
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go 
and gather them up ? 



29 But he said, Nay ; lest while ye gather up the 
tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 

30 Let both grow together until the harvest : and in 
the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather 
ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to>> 
burn them : but gather the wheat' into my barn. 

31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, 
The kingdom of heaven is like to a r grain of mustard 
seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field : 

32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it 
is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becom- 
eth a tree, 8 so that the birds of the air come and lodge 
in the branches thereof. 



m Isa. 28 : 10, 13 n 1 Pet. 1 : 23 o 1 Tim. 5 : 24 p Mai. 4 : 1. . . .q Lake 3:17.. 



next they are awakened and rejoice in the truth, 
but do not take hold of it with practical resolu- 
tion to realize it in their life ; then they begin 
the work of carrying it into life, and find it con- 
tinually choked with cares and ambitions, which 
must be weeded out ; finally it brings forth fruit. 
Thus the progress of the truth is from the first 
to the second, from the second to the third, from 
the third to the last ; there is more hope for the 
second than for the first, more hope for the third 
than the second ; but if the second gets no root, 
the condemnation is greater than if he had never 
received the seed, and if the third goes at last to 
thorns, his condemnation is greater than if the 
seed had never taken root. 

24-30. Pabable of the Tabes. — Peculiar to 
Matthew. For interpretation see verses 37-43, 
and notes. 

24. The kingdom of heaven is likened 
unto a man which sowed. Not merely to 
the man, which represents Christ (verse 37), nor 
merely to the sowing ; but the progress of the 
kingdom and the obstacles which it encounters 
are illustrated by the experience of a farmer 
beset by an enemy who sows tares in his field. 
Neither one of these parables illustrate Christ's 
kingdom in its entirety ; each illustrates a cer- 
tain phase or aspect of it. 

25. While men slept. Not while the man 
slept, there is no intimation of any withdrawal 
of Christ, or any cessation of his personal activ- 
ity ; nor while the men slept, there is no intima- 
tion of negligence on the part of his servants ; 
but simply while men slept, i. e., at night. For 
similar use of this phraseology see Mark 4 : 27. 
It is nevertheless true that, in the moral realm, 
the devil sows evil seed while good men are 
spiritually asleep, and at night, i. «., secretly, 
and under cover ; for all his works are works of 
darkness. 

Tares. A weed probably identical with the 
English darnel, and in character resembling the 
American chess or cheat. It grows frequently 
with the wheat, so nearly resembles it as to be 
practically indistinguishable until the grain is 
headed out, is hence called bastard wheat, is be- 
lieved by the Eastern farmers to be merely a de- 



generate wheat or barley, produced from the seed 
of wheat or barley by an inauspicious season, espe- 
cially by rain, and this opinion is sanctioned by 
some ancient writers and even by some biblical 
scholars. It is a mistake, but one not unnatural. 
For sometimes the wheat will be drowned out 
with the rain, and the field will grow up to tares ; 
its seeds are light, they are carried by insects 
and birds and on the winds ; and the rain which 
destroys the wheat, is favorable to the tares. 
So the very air is full of the seeds of evil, always 
ready to spring up in hearts whose culture has 
seemingly all been Christian. The taste of the 
tares is bitter, its effect to nauseate ; when mixed 
with wheat in bread it produces sickness, and 
sometimes, if eaten in considerable quantities, 
death. It is said to be the only poisonous grass, 
a fitting symbol of the fruit of the devil's sowing. 
When intermixed with wheat the farmer makes 
no attempt to weed it out, both from the diffi- 
culty of distinguishing it, and from the practical 
impossibility of separating it from the wheat 
with which its roots are often intermixed. 
They are therefore left to grow together till the 
harvest. Cases of malicious sowing of the tares 
or darnel by an enemy are not infrequent. 
Roberts {Oriental Illustrations) describes this as 
common in India ; Trench narrates a similar 
injury practised on an incoming tenant by an 
outgoing tenant in Ireland ; and Dean Alford 
narrates in his commentary an instance of the 
same act of malice practised on himself by the 
sowing of charlock on a field belonging to him in 
England. 

Went his way. It was enough to sow the 
evil seed. He did not need to remain and culti- 
vate it. "He knew the soil ; he knew how the 
seed would take root and grow. He had only to 
sow the seed and let it alone. So Satan knows 
the soil in which he sows his doctrine. He 
knows that in the human heart it will take deep 
and rapid root. It needs but little culture."— 
(Barnes.) 

31, 32. Pabable of the Mtjstabd Seed. 
Mark 4 : 30-32 ; Luke 13 : 18-21. Dr. Robinson 
supposes that Christ uttered this and the next 
parable twice— once at this time, once at the time 



180 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIII. 



33 Another parable spake he unto them : The king- 
dom of heaven is like uDto leaven, which a woman 



took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole 
was leavened. 



seemingly indicated by Luke. The mustard seed, 
of which four to six come in the pod, was used by 
the rabbis as a symbol to express the most dimin- 
utive quantity, and in one other instance was 
so used by our Lord (Luke n •. 6) ; it was, in fact, 
the smallest of the various kinds of seed in 
common use in Jewish husbandry. The pro- 
duct is a bush which grows sometimes as tall 
as a horse and his rider, though its common 
height is less. The birds, attracted by its seeds, 
often settle on it in great numbers. I cannot 
find that they ever built their nests in it, though 
this is indicated by the phrase here employed, 
" lodge in the branches thereof " (Gr. y.atuoy.i\\aia, 
literally pitch tent). It is, however, a bush 
rather than a tree, and the phraseology in Luke, 
where it is called "a great tree," must be re- 
garded as qualified by the expression here, 
"greatest among herbs," i. e., garden plants. 
Some writers have indeed supposed that our 
Lord here refers to a tree which is found in 
Palestine {Salvadora persica), the seeds of which 
are said to be used in Syria as a substitute for 
mustard, but the identification of the plant of 
the parable with garden plants renders that 
opinion improbable. See this question fully dis- 
cussed in Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. Mustard. 
Interpretation. — In the preceding parables 
Christ has presented certain obstacles to the 
growth of his kingdom ; in this and the follow- 
ing parable of the leaven he reassures his hearers 
of the certainty of its growth, despite small and 
secret beginnings, and great obstacles. O. T. 
symbols throw light on this parable. Daniel 
uses the growth of the tree to typify that of an 
earthly kingdom (Dan. 4 : 10-12), Ezekiel to sym- 
bolize that of the kingdom of God (Ezek. 17 : 22-24; 
compare Psaim so : 8-ii). The parable is illustrated 
and fulfilled historically by (a) the external 
growth of the church from the smallest begin- 
nings — the despised Nazarene, the unlearned 
Galilean fishermen, the church to which not 
many wise, mighty, or noble were called (1 Cor. 
1 : 26) — to a great tree overspreading the whole 
earth ; (6) the internal growth of the Church, as 
a system of truth and ethics, from the seed of 
the four Gospels, out of which all that is true 
Christianity, in doctrine or life, has grown ; (c) 
the spiritual life of the individual, which is 
always a gradual growth from a small seed, the 
repentance bred of hunger in the prodigal be- 
coming the tree whose fruits are the robe, the 
ring, the shoes, the fatted calf, the father's 
home and love. The law of Christian growth 
here set forth is exemplified in the Lutheran re- 
formation, the Wesleyan reformation, in the rise 
of Puritanism, in every revival of religion. It 



gives hope to every Christian worker who plants 
but small seeds, and must leave time to develop 
the tree ; to every Christian soul, who must ex- 
pect his religious life to be in its beginning an 
instantaneous planting of the seed of grace, but 
in its development a gradual growth. Incidentally 
it is worthy of notice that the mustard seed is 
pungent, penetrating, searching, and must be 
bruised before it will give out its virtues, and 
when it is grown gives shelter and house-room to 
the birds. So the seed of truth must be pungent, 
penetrating, searching ; so Christ, who is the 
seed, because he is the living and life-giving 
truth, must needs be bruised before he could 
save ; so the church of Christ, as an organiza- 
tion, and the Christian, in his individual life, 
gives shade and shelter to the oppressed and the 

tempted (compare Ezek. 31 : g). 

33. Parable op the Leaven. Found also 
in Luke 13 : 20, 21. Leaven among the Jews 
generally consisted of a lump of old dough, in a 
high state of fermentation, inserted In the bread 
preparatory to baking. Like our yeast, its ob- 
ject was to ferment the bread, and the process 
and the result was analogous to that of yeast. 
The three measures of meal, equal to one 
ephah, was equivalent to a little over a bushel, 
more nearly four pecks and a half. Some of the 
commentators have seen a spiritual significance 
in the three measures ; e. g., Olshausen, who sup- 
poses it to refer to the body, soul, and spirit, and 
Stier to the three sons of Noah by whom the 
whole earth was overspread. But neither ap- 
pears to me to be natural. Three measures or 
an ephah was a usual quantity for baking (Gen. 

18 : 6 ; Judges S : 19 ; 1 Sam. 1 : 24). 

Interpretation. Leaven, being itself corrupt, 
and leavening by a process of corruption, is usually 
in the Bible a symbol of evil (Matt. 16 : 6 ; 1 Cor. 5 : 
6-8; Gai. 5 : 9), and, perhaps for this reason, was 
generally excluded from the offerings under the 

O. T. (Exod. 13 : 3 ; Lev. 2 : 11 ; Amos 4:5). Woman, tOO, is 

often employed as a symbol of an apostate church 

and its ministry (Prov. 9 : 13; Zach. 6 : 7-ll ; Rev. 17 : 3, 

etc). Hence, some commentators have regarded 
leaven here as a symbol of corruption, and the 
parable as illustrative rather of the opposition 
which the kingdom of God must encounter than 
of its process and progress. But this view is un- 
necessary, because (a) the Scripture uses the 
same thing to symbolize sometimes good, some- 
times evil, e. g., the lion as an emblem both of 
the devil and of Christ (1 Pet. 5:8; Rev. 5 : s), the 
tree as an emblem of both pious and wicked men 
(psalm 1 : 3 ; 37 : 35), the dove as an emblem of both 
an evil and a right simplicity (Hosea 7 : n ; Matt. 10 : ie) ; 
(&) leaven itself was in one instance required in a 



Ch. XIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



181 



34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in 
parables ;' and without a parable spake he not unto 
them • 

35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the 
prophet," saying, I will open my mouth in parables ; 
I will utter things which have been kept 7 secret from 
the fcundation of the world. 



36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went 
into the house : and his disciples came unto him, say- 
ing, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the 
field. 

37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth 
the good seed is the Son of man : 

38 The field is the world : w the good seed are the 



t Mark 4 : 33 u Ps. 78 : 2 v Luke 10 : 24 ; Rom. 16 : 25, 26 ; Col. 1 : 26. . 



Rom. 10 : 18 ; Col. 1 : 6. 



sacred offering (Lev. 23 : n), and could not, there- 
fore, have been always regarded as an emblem 
of evil ; (c) it is a natural emblem of a good, 
warming, pervasive influence, imparting its own 
savor and virtue to the lifeless lump. This 
view is also indefensible, because (a) Christ 
directly compares the kingdom of heaven to the 
operation of leaven, and it flatly contradicts his 
language to regard the parable as a symbol of 
the operation of the kingdom of Satan ; (6) he 
distinctly asserts that the leaven abides in the 
meal till all is leavened, which, if leaven be a sym- 
bol of corruption, would involve the idea that 
the Gospel is to be conquered and the influence 
of Satan become victorious ; (c) its connection 
with the preceding parables point to a further 
and fuller illustration of the progress of the 
kingdom of God. I conclude, then, that the 
natural and plain meaning of the parable is the 
true one, and that Christ means exactly what 
his words mean, viz., that the operations of the 
influence of God in the community and in the 
individual heart are analogous to those of leaven 
in the dough. Why? Because the latter is a 
foreign power, not merely an awakenizg of life 
dormant in the dough ; it brings new life with 
it ; it is hidden in the dough ; it does its work 
secretly, silently, by a process of fermentation 
and agitation ; it is itself that which the dough 
is to become. The parable is historically illus- 
trated by the progress of Christianity in the 
world, which proceeds from the Bread which 
came down from heaven and was mingled with 
our common humanity ; came not with observa- 
tion, being unrecognized as a divine life-giving 
force by Jew or Gentile ; it permeates all so- 
ciety ; has won its way by a process of agita- 
tion, bringing first the sword, then peace (Matt. 
10 : 34) ; and has proceeded from the interior out- 
ward ; and, by a process of infection or conta- 
gion of beneficent influence, is leavening all 
society — governments, commerce, social cus- 
toms, as well as church organizations and the 
professed disciples of Christ. It is illustrated in 
the history of every Christian soiil ; for Christ is 
hidden in the soul, and becomes the secret source 
of its life ; to him it gradually becomes con- 
formed ; he is unrecognized by the world, though 
the sweetness and life produced by his presence is 
perceived ; and he gradually and silently pervades 
the whole being, until the whole is leavened. 



Observe, too, that as each part of the dough 
becoming leavened acts as leaven, stimulating 
life in that which adjoins, so each true Chris- 
tian, leavened by Christianity, operates as leaven 
upon his neighbor. 

34, 35. Use of Parables. Without a 
parable spake he not to them, i. e., in this 
discourse his entire explanation to the multi- 
tude of the kingdom of God was by parables 
only ; the interpretation was reserved for his 
own disciples. 

35. That it might be fulfilled. The 
Greek participle here is ilmuc, not hu (hopos not 
hina) ; but what I have said concerning the latter 
in note on Matt. 12 : 17 is substantially appli- 
cable to the former. The reference here is to 
Psalm 78 : 2. That Psalm was written, according 
to the Hebrew inscription, by Asaph ; it contains 
no reference directly or indirectly to Christ, and 
it consists of an account, in poetical form, of the 
history of God's dealings with Israel, which are, 
however, a parable in this sense, that they are 
an ensample of his spiritual dealings with his 
people in all times (1 Cor. 10 : 6, 11). Only in this very 
general sense, in which the whole of the O. T. is 
prophetic of the New, can these words, and Asaph 
in uttering them, be regarded as prophetic of 
Christ and his method of instruction. Things 
kept secret. In these parables Christ was in- 
terpreting the spiritual nature of his kingdom, 
which was an enigma to the Jewish nation. 

36-43. Interpretation of the Parable 
of Tares. 

37. Then Jesus sent the multitude away 
and went into the house. The parable of 
the leaven appears to have ended the public dis- 
course concerning the kingdom of God ; the sub- 
sequent parables appear to have been uttered to 
the disciples alone. His disciples. Not neces- 
sarily the twelve alone, but those who accepted 
him as their teacher, and wished to learn of him. 
Compare the language of Mark 4 : 10, which in- 
terprets that of Matt. 13 : 10, the same as that 
employed here. Declare unto us, i. e., inter- 
pret to us. 

37. He that soweth the good seed is the 
Son of man, i. e., Jesus Christ. See note on 
Matt. 10 : 23. Observe that all sowing, whether 
done by prophet, apostle, preacher, teacher, or 
parent, is done by Christ in him. See note on 
verse 18, above. 



182 



children of the kingdom ;* but the tares are the chil- 
dren of the wicked* one : 

39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil : the har- 
vest is the end of the world f and the reapers are the 
angels.* 



MATTHEW. [Ch. XIII. 

40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in 
the fire ; b so shall it be in the end of this world. 

41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and 
they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that of- 
fend, and c them which do iniquity ; 



3t 1 Pet. 1 : 23 y John 8 : 44 ; Acts 13 : 10 ; 1 John 3:8 z Joel 3 : 13 ; Rev. 14 : 15 a Rev. 14 : 15-19. . . .b verse 30. ... c Luke 13 : 27. 



38. The field is the world. Not the 

church ; the word world (xiiofiog) never repre- 
sents the church in the N. T., but the whole 
world of humanity. See 1 John 2 : 2, where the 
contrast between the church and the world is 
drawn. Observe that the world is his field (verse 
24, above) ; the whole world of humanity is the 
kingdom of Christ, though only a part recog- 
nizes its duty of allegiance to him ; much of it is 
a kingdom in rebellion. Observe, too, that it is 
for the whole world Christ has died (john3.-i6; 
i John 2 : 2), and that throughout the whole world 
the seed is to be sown (Matt. 28 : 19, 20). In the 
Donatist controversy, famous in ecclesiastical 
history, the Catholic commentators read, The 
field is the church, an interpretation which they 
endeavor to sustain by ingenious arguments, and 
which is, singularly, sustained by the great body 
of commentators since. It is, however, only an 
instance of the power of dogmatic prejudice to 
modify Scripture. The object was to prove from 
Scripture that the church was not to purge out 
by discipline all its evil, heretical, and hypocri- 
tical members. This may be indirectly implied ; 
it is not directly asserted. At all events, the 
direct and unambiguous words of Christ, The 
field is the world, are not to be departed from 
either (a) by confounding the world and the 
church, for (see above) the word world {xuaixog) 
never stands in the N. T. for the church ; nor (b) 
by supposing that it is used parabolically for the 
church, for Christ is explaining the parable, not 
giving another, still less interpreting it by one 
more difficult to be understood ; nor (c) by sup- 
posing that the church is commensurate with 
the world, for it is not, the greater part of it 
still lying in heathenism, like portions of a field 
given over to tares. The application of the 
parable is not, except indirectly, to discipline in 
the church. See this matter well discussed in 
Arnot on tlte Parables. And see, for general teach- 
ing of parable, note below. The good seed 
are the children of the kingdom. In the 
parable of the sower the seed is the word of God ; 
but the two interpretations are not incongruous ; 
one includes the other. See note on verse 19, 
above. The tares are the children of the 
wicked one. Observe here, as throughout the 
Scriptures, the broad line is drawn between the 
two classes of men ; they do not, in fact as in ap- 
pearance, resemble one another. One is pro- 
duced from good seed, the other from evil seed ; 
one class are the children of God, the other are 



the children of the devil ; one belong to the 
kingdom of light, the other to the kingdom of 
darkness. Compare Matt. 12 : 30, and note ; 
John 8 : 44 ; 1 Thess. 5 : 5. But the difference is 
not ineradicable here ; the great gulf which be- 
gins on earth becomes impassable only at death 
(Luke 16 : 26). " We are not to suppose that the 
wheat can never become tares, or the tares wheat ; 
this would be to contradict the purpose of Him 
who willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather 
that he should be converted and live ; and this 
gracious purpose shines through the command, 
Let both grow together till the harvest." — 
(Alford.) 

39. The enemy ; who sowed the tares. Is 
the devil. See note on Matt. 4 : 1. Observe 
that here, as elsewhere, the personality of the 
devil is recognized by our Lord in unmistakable 
terms. This is no parable, but the interpreta- 
tion of a parable ; it is no concession to popular 
prejudice, for it is uttered to his own disciples 
alone ; the devil cannot stand for the evil in the 
human heart, for it is contrasted therewith, the 
natural evil of the heart being symbolized in the 
parable of the sower, the direct agency of Satan 
in this parable of the tares. Evil and false teach- 
ing is attributed directly to his influence ; of him 
are wicked and evil-producing men, who are the 
children of the wicked one, as good men are the 
children of the kingdom of God and seed sown by 
God. Observe, too, the nature of his work, fair 
in seeming, deadly in reality. "He at once 
mimics and counter-works the work of Christ." 
— (Trench.) The harvest is the end of time. 
The Greek word rendered here world (aloir) sig- 
nifies not the physical world, but rather the 
present era or cycle ; the reference is not to the 
destruction of the world, though elsewhere it is 
implied that such a destruction takes place at 
the judgment, but to the completion of the 
present cycle. Observe the implication that the 
judgment takes place at the end of the wm-ld, not 
as Swedenborg teaches, simultaneously with the 
world's existence, and for each man at the end of 
his life. The reapers are the angels. These 
are frequently represented as accompanying the 
Lord in his coming at the day of judgment (Matt. 

16 : 27 ; 24 : 31 ; 2 Thess. 1:7; Kev. 19 : 14). 

41. Gather out of his kingdom. Observe 
that as the tares are represented as sown in 
Christ's field, so here the whole world of good 
and evil is represented as his kingdom, from 
which the evil is to be gathered out. See note 



Oh. XIII.] 



MATTHEW 



183 



42 And d shall cast them into a furnace of fire : there e 
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

43 Then shall the righteous shine 1 forth as the sun in 



the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, 
let him hear. 
44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treas- 



d ch. 3 : 12 ; Rev. 19 : 20 ; 20 : 10. . . .e verse 60 ; ch. 8 : 12 f Dan. 12 : 3 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 49. 



on Terse 38, above. All things that offend, 

i. e., tempt to sin. Compare note on Matt. 
5 : 39. And them which do iniquity. Com- 
pare Matt. 7 : 23, and Rev. 21 : 8 ; 22 : 15. Ob- 
serve that not merely those who deliberately do 
iniquity, but also those who so carry themselves 
as to lead others into sin, are outcast. 

40-42. Fire was employed as a punishment 
by the Chaldeans (jer. 29 : 22 ; Dan. 3 : 6), and has 
been similarly used in later times by the Persians. 
By fire Antiochus persecuted the Jews (Dan. 11 : 33 ; 
1 Cor. 13 : 3), as in medieval times the Romanists 
persecuted the Reformers. Herod the Great 
burned to death certain who had opposed his 
authority in his last days ( Wars of Jews, i., 33, § 4). 
Weeds also were used among the Jews as a fuel, 
especially for heating their ovens ; a fire was 
kindled inside, and subsequently removed to 
make room for the bread (Matt. 6 : 30). From this 
double use comes the employment of fire in the 
Bible as a metaphor of the punishment of the 
ungodly. It is thus employed frequently in the 

O. T. (2 Sam. 23 : 6, 7 : Isaiah 5 : 24; 10 : 16, 17 ; Mai. 4 : l). 

Here and elsewhere it is adopted by Christ for 
the same purpose, and assuredly with a full 
sense of the terrible significance which the 
Jewish mind would attach to the metaphor (Matt. 
7 : 19 : John is : 6). And it is used elsewhere in the 
N. T. in a similar manner (Matt. 3 : 10, 12, and note : Heb. 
6 : 8 j 10 : 27). This fire is represented not as some- 
thing external to the sinner, but as consisting of 
his sins, and as proceeding from himself (isaiah 
9 : is, 19 ; 33 : ii, 12). An examination of these pas- 
sages will make it clear that (a) fire is used in 
them as a symbol not of purification but of pun- 
ishment ; (&) that it represents a punishment 
which is a finality, and from which there is and 
can be no deliverance or restoration ; (c) that 
being borrowed from the most painful form of 
death in use among men, it stands for a terrible 
penalty, such as could be interpreted only by a 
physical symbol ; (d) that it is symbolical merely, 
and to give it a literal interpretation, and found 
on it a doctrine of physical torture, is wholly to 
miss the meaning and ignore the usage of Bib- 
lical symbolism ; (e) that it does not necessarily 
imply the literal destruction of the sinner, 
though the chaff, stubble, tares are utterly con- 
sumed, for in no other way could a physical 
symbol interpret spiritual penalty. The fire is 
represented as everlasting and unquenchable 
(isaiah 66:24; Matt. 25 : 41), and it is represented as 
an instrument, not merely or mainly of destruc- 
tion, but as one of true penalty, involving suffer- 



ing, as here in the words, There shall be weeping j 
and gnashing of teeth. The question whether 
immortality is denied to the impenitent, or 
whether they possess an immortal but suffering 
life, must be determined by a consideration of 
other passages of Scripture. The symbolism of 
fire throws little or no light upon that problem. 

Wailing and gnashing of teeth. A sym- 
bol not only of suffering, but even more, of rage 
(Acts 7 : 54). Compare Matt. 8 : 12, and note. 

43. Then. When the tares are removed, the 
obstructions to growth in holiness and godliness 
are removed. Shall the righteous shine 
forth. Light is a symbol of joy, of clear appre- 
hension of truth, of a light and joy-giving ex- 
ample. Now, hindered and darkened by admix- 
ture with evil men, the light is not clear ; then 
it will shine out with unobstructed glory, both 

in and from the Saints (Rom. 8 : 18; Col. 3 : 3, 4. Compare 
Dan. 12 : 3). 

Lessons of the Pakable of the Takes. 
The key-note of this parable is afforded by verse 
30, "Let both grow together till the harvest." 
Its direct lesson is that man may not use force to 
purify the kingdom of God of evil elements that 
mingle in it ; the reason assigned is, Lest ye root 
up also the wheat with the tares, both (a) by 
mistaking wheat for tares, as in the middle-ages 
the honest but perverted zeal of the hierarchy 
mistook truth and piety for heresy and sin, and 
(&) by uprooting tares which patience and in- 
struction might turn into wheat. Its direct ap- 
plication is to civil governments, which never 
have the right to punish sin for the purpose of 
avenging it, or of representing and carrying into 
effect divine justice, or of perfecting the purifi- 
cation of society, but only so far as is needful for 
the protection of society and the offender's 
reformation ; its indirect application is to the 
church, which is not to use discipline for the 
purpose of excluding all from its communion 
whom it deems unworthy, nor even all who 
offend and do iniquity, but only such as, by their 
presence and influence, are destructive of the 
vitality of the church. It incidentally applies to 
all Christian work and Christian organizations, 
the duty of the Christian, in church, Sabbath 
school, and social life, being a duty of patience 
and long-suffering with the children of the 
wicked one, not of Pharisaic withdrawal from 
them, or indignant excision of them from social 
and Christian fellowship. It interprets the 
ground of God's being long-suffering, who bears 
with the tares that he may change them to wheat 



184 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XIII. 



ures hid in a field ; the which when a man hath found, 
he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth h all that 
he hath, and buyeth' that field. 

45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a mer- 
chant man, seeking goodly pearls ; 



46 Who, when he had found one- pearl of great 
price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 

47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, 
that was cast into the sea, and gathered 11 of every kind : 

48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and 



g Prov. 2 : 4, 6 h Phil. 3 : 7, 8. . . .i Isa. 55 : 1 ; Rev. 3 : 18. . . ,j Prov. 3 : 14, 15 ; 8 : 11. . . .k ch. 22 : 10. 



(Luke i3: 6-9; Rom. 2 : 4), and is an inspiration of 
patience to us in our intermixture with iniqui- 
tous and ensnaring men. Incidentally it teaches 
the following lessons : All good influences come 
from Christ ; all evil influences come from Satan. 
The world is Christ's kingdom, the ungodly are 
in revolt against their king. The difference be- 
tween the children of God and of the wicked 
one is, in appearance, nothing, the tares are un- 
distinguishable from the wheat ; it is in reality 
radical, they spring from different seeds and 
different sowers ; it is manifested in the fruit, 
the one is health-giving, the other poisonous ;" 
and in the end, one is for the granary, the 
other for the furnace. The intermixture of good 
and evil men in life is a part of God's plan ; all 
attempts, whether by religious persecution or 
monastic seclusion, to interfere with it, are dis- 
astrous failures. Evil influence is propagated 
secretly at night ; grows rankly without cultiva- 
tion. Every good sowing in church, in Sabbath 
school, in the home circle, is followed by evil 
sowing, wherefore we must watch alway for tares. 
The certainty of a coming divine judgment ; the 
terribleness and the finality of the divine punish- 
ment of sin. Finally, the parable is historically 
illustrated in (a) the history of the Fall ; God 
sowed good seed, the devil dropped the seed of 
an evil ambition, the fruit was poison ; (6) the 
history of the Jewish nation, in which God sowed 
good seed by the hand of Moses and the prophets, 
the devil tares by the influence of apostate kings 
and false prophets and idolatrous nations, the 
end was national death ; (c) the history of the 
early church, in which the devil was still busy 

SOWing tares (Acts 13 : 10 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 11, 12 ; Gal. 5 : 7, 8 ; 1 Tim. 

4 : 1-3) ; (d) in the history of the post-apostolic 
church, into which the devil introduced false 
doctrines, ecclesiastical ambitions, heathen idol- 
atries ; (e) in frhe history of the Reformation, in 
which with much good seed was sown also the 
seed of Socinianism, Antinomianism, and modern 
Rationalism. The evil of attempting to uproot 
the tares is illustrated by the history of all reli- 
gious persecution ; whether of the Reformers by 
the hierarchy, or of the Puritans by the Church 
of England, or of the Baptists and Quakers by 
the Puritans. The practical lesson to every in- 
dividual disciple is, Be patient towards all men. 
44-46. Parables ^f Hid Treasure asd 
the Pearl. These two parables, uttered to the 
disciples, not to the multitude (verse 36), go to- 



gether. They represent different phases of the 
same truth ; each helps to interpret the other. 
Combined, they teach the general lesson that the 
kingdom of heaven must be seized and appropri- 
ated by each individual for himself. "It is not 
merely a tree overshadowing the earth, or leaven 
leavening the world, but each man must have it 
for himself, and make it his own, by a distinct act 
of his own will."— {Trench.) Neither does God re- 
deem the whole world of humanity by one gen- 
eral act of grace, but finds and purchases each soul 
unto himself by a special act of love. The fea- 
tures of the story in each case are taken from 
the common life in the East. Owing to war, 
robbers, and the absence of modern methods of 
investing property, such as banks, stock, bonds, 
etc., it was customary in the East for men to 
bury a part of their wealth in the ground, keep- 
ing the secret sacredly. In case of war, such 
burials were very frequent. A forced flight, 
sudden death, or other accident, would often 
prevent its removal. Hence the discovery of 
hid treasure in the East is, even at the present 
day, an occurrence not extraordinary. That 
such hiding was common in O. T. times is illus- 
trated by Job 3 : 21 ; Prov. 2:4; Jer. 41 : 8. 
The pearl, too, was held in higher estimation in 
ancient times than at present. The merchant- 
man and caravan were frequently seen by the sea 
of Galilee, which was on the highway of com- 
merce between the far East and the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. 

Interpretation. Both parables bear a double 
meaning : (1.) In the human race was hid a trea- 
sure, viz., the faithful and elect to be gathered 
out of all nations. Christ discovered it ; for the 
joy that was set before him, endured the cross, 
despising the shame, and, though he was rich, 
for our sakes became poor, that he might pur- 
chase the field — the world — and so procure the 
treasure — his church hidden in it. Through the 
world he still goes, seeking in human souls 
pearls, which, by his own grace, he makes 
goodly, and ransoming each one, which, by the 
price he pays, and by its own inestimable value 
in the eyes of divine love, is a "pearl of great 
price." Thus Christ's estimate of the value of 
the kingdom of God, and his sacrifice of all for 
it, is an inspiration to us. For (2) that kingdom 
is a treasure hidden from the eyes of those whom 
the god of this world hath blinded, but which, 
being suddenly revealed, inspires the finder with 



Oh. XIIL] 



MATTHEW. 



18£ 



sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast 
the bad away. 

49 So shall it be at the end of the world : the angels shall 
come forth, and 1 sever the wicked from among the just ; 



50 And m shall cast them into the furnace of fire : there 
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

51 Jesus saitti unto them. Have ye understood all 
these things ? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. 



1 ch. 25 : 3'2 m verse 42. 



joy ; it is a pearl of great price, whether mea- 
sured by what its cost is to Christ, or by its 
value to the possessor ; and this treasure, this 
pearl, is worth all else, is possessed only by him 
who forsaketh all to become Christ's disciple 
(Lake 14 : 33). (3.) The points of contrast in the 
parables are not accidental. The two represent 
different types of experience ; the first, a man 
who, without earnest seeking, finds, as it were 
by accident, the truth and life that is in Christ ; 
the second, the seeker after truth in various 
quarters (goodly pearls in many markets), who 
finds in Christ the one thing needful (the one 
pearl of great price), which costs all that he 
hath. Nathaniel and the Samaritan woman 
illustrate the first, Paul and the Ethopian eunuch 
(Acts 8 : 27) the second. (4. ) Other points in the 
parable have been noted, c. g., The treasure hid 
in the field is compared to the truth hid in the 
external church (Trench, Alf ord), or in the Holy 
Scriptures (Jerome, Augustine) ; the joy that in- 
spires the finder is the inspiration which enables 
him to sell all that he hath, and is a hint that 
Christian self-sacrifice is gainful and should be 
joyful ; his hiding the treasure is thought to 
typify the young Christian's tremulous anxietj' 
lest he lose the new-found life, or possibly his 
first inclination at concealment till he has mea- 
sured the reality and value of his experience. 
Unnecessary difficulty has been occasioned by 
doubts concerning the morality of the course of 
the finder in the first parable. But Christ no 
more commends his course by using it, as an 
illustration, than he commends the merchant 
who devotes his life to getting goodly pearls, 
or the unjust judge (Lake is : i-t), to whom he 
compares God. No difficulty need be experi- 
enced by the fact that the obtaining of the king- 
dom of God is compared to a purchase. This is a 
common symbol in the Scripture (ftov. 23 : 23 ; Matt. 25 : 
§, 10 ; Rev. 3 : is), and is interpreted by such decla- 
rations as the exhortation of Isaiah to " buy with- 
out money and without price " (isaiah 55 : 1, 2), and 
such experiences as those of Paul, who counted 
all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus (plu. 3 : 7, 8). 

47-50. Parable of the Drag-net. The 
drag-net, or seine (Gr. auyijvrj), is one of small 
depth but great length ; Trench says that some 
of these seines on the coast of Cornwall are half 
a mile long. One side is kept close to the bot- 
tom by weights, the other is buoyed up by corks 
or bladders ; thus, when spread, it stands in the 
water like a wall. Having been spread, the fish- 



ermen draw it at both ends to the land, enclosing 
in it every fish not small enough to escape 
through its meshes. Then the separation takes 
place, and the useless fish are thrown away, 
while the good are kept for the market. 

Interpretation. The all but universal inter- 
pretation of the commentators is as follows : 
The net is the church, the fishermen are the 
ministry, the gathering out of the sea is the 
gathering into the visible church of both good 
and evil, the landing of the fish and the selec- 
tion of the good is the day of judgment. Thus 
this parable is only a repetition, in a different 
form, of the parable of the tares. From this in- 
terpretation 1 dissent, because (a) it makes the 
central feature of the parable the present work 
of the ministry, while Christ's own interpreta- 
tion makes the fishing a mere incident, the sepa- 
ration of the fish the central feature ; (&) it repre- 
sents the fishermen as the ministry, while Christ 
declares that they represent the angels ; (c) it re- 
presents the church as gathering, not out of the 
world by moral lines, but apart of the world by 
mere geographical lines, and the contents of the 
church (the net) in nowise different morally from 
that of the world at large (the sea be3 r ond) ; 
id) it gives no significance to the drawing to the 
shore, and, on the contrary, represents only the 
church as subject to the judgment of God ; (e) it 
repeats the parable of tares, and is thus an anti- 
climax in a series which otherwise possesses a 
true progress and development of the truth from 
the beginning to the close. I should hesitate to 
dissent from the whole current of thought in 
this matter, were it not that the ordinary inter- 
pretation was evidently originally adopted for 
controversial reasons, to silence the Donatists, 
who demanded a rigid discipline in the church, 
and has since been accepted by each new com- 
mentator, apparently on the authority of preced- 
ing writers, with little or no original investiga- 
tion. To me the interpretation, which I find 
substantially in Arnot (to whose treatise on the 
parables the reader is referred for a careful and 
candid discussion of the subject), appears more 
consonant, both with the meaning of the parable 
and the course of the entire series. The sea is 
the world ; out of it, by unseen but invisible in- 
fluences, all humanity, good and evil, large and 
small, old and young, are drawn steadily, and 
despite their forebodings and struggles to escape, 
to the shore of eternity. Not until that shore is 
reached can the kingdom of God be fully dis- 
closed ; then the angels, who come with Christ 



186 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIII. 



52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe 
which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like 
unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth 
tbrth out" of his treasure things new and old. 

53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished 
these parables, he departed thence. 

54 And? when he was come into his own country, he 
taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they 



were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this 
wisdom , and these mighty works ? 

55 Is not this the carpenter's son ? is not his mother 
called Mary ? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and 
Simon, and Judas ? 

56 And his sisters, are they not all with us ? Whence 
then hath this man all these things ? 

57 And they were offended"" in him. But Jesus said 



n Prov. 10 : 21 ; 15 : 7 ; 18 : 4 Cant. 7 : 13 p Mark 6 : 1, etc. ; Luke 4 : 16, etc q Isa. 49 : 7 ; 53 : 3 ; John 6 : 42. 



in his glory to judge the world (Matt. 25 : 31), sepa- 
rate the good from the bad, gathering the former 
into the many mansions (vessels) and casting the 
latter away. On verse 50, see note on verse 42, 
above. 

This interpretation renders this parable a fit- 
ting climax in the series of seven. The Sower 
represents the work of Christ and the hindrances 
it meets in the human heart ; the Tares point to 
the true cause of these hindrances, evil influ- 
ences set at work by the evil one ; the Mustard 
Seed gives assurance of the final victory of Christ, 
in the growth of the great tree from a small seed ; 
the Leaven points out the method of that growth 
— secret, silent, by permeation, by agitation ; 
the Treasure and the Pearl teach that only by a 
joyful choice of Christ, as a chief good, can any 
one come into the kingdom ; and the Drag-net 
points out its final consummation, after death 
the inevitable lot, and in the judgment the in- 
evitable test, of the whole human race. Each 
parable, too, receives an illustration in an his- 
torical epoch of the church. The apostolic 
church was the greatest of all the seed times of the 
church ; in the ages immediately following grew 
up, in corruptions of life, doctrine, and worship, 
tares, and, by persecution, the R. C. church 
attempted, in vain, to distinguish between the 
tares and the wheat, and to destroy the one and 
leave the other ; the little seed grew, and still 
grows on, more and more overshadowing all the 
earth ; the leaven secretly, but by perpetual agi- 
tation, penetrates society ; in that agitation, and 
in part because of it, hundreds and thousands of 
souls find the hid treasure ; and in this later age, 
in which knowledge is increased, when many run 
to and fro seeking it, many obtain the pearl of 
great price, worth all else ; till at last the end 
shall come, when all humanity shall be drawn 
from the sea of time to the shore of eternity, and 
the final and inevitable judgment shall take 
place. 

51,52. Close of the Parables. Compare 
with these verses Mark 4 : 34, "When they were 
alone he expounded all things to his disciples." 
Have ye understood? (Greek awhjia), i. e., 
with the heart. Compare verse 19 above and 
note, and Romans 10 : 9. Scribe. The scribes 
were the theological teachers of the age. See 
notes on Matt. 2 : 4. 

The spirit of Christ's question is that of a 



father or teacher, who makes sure that his ex- 
planation has been understood. The answer is 
not one of undue self-confidence ; though it is 
not to be supposed that the disciples understood 
the whole significance of these parables, still less 
the prophetic meaning which is involved in them. 
" Their reply must be taken as spoken from their 
then standing-point, from which little would be 
seen of that inner and deeper meaning which the 
Holy Spirit has since unfolded." — (Alford.) The 
parable of the householder which follows is 
interpreted by the contrast between Christ him- 
self and the Scribes, the theologians and profes- 
sional teachers of Judaism (Matt. 7 : 29, and note). 
They, like their modem antitypes, taught by 
rote what they learned from the teachings of 
their predecessors, and in unvarying routine, 
without any living experience of the truth. 
Christ declares that the Christian scribe must 
bring forth out of his own treasure, i. e., his own 
heart experiences (compare Matt. 12 : 35), things both 
new and old, neither despising the old because 
it is old, nor rejecting the new because it is new. 
The contrast is not merely between the Old Tes- 
tament and the New Testament, nor between 
old and new forms of truth, but between old 
and familiar disclosures, and new experiences 
and apprehensions of the truth. It is interpreted 
and applied by the charge of Robinson the Puri- 
tan pastor to his Puritan flock on the occasion 
of their embarking for New England : "I charge 
you before God and his blessed angels that you 
follow me no farther than you have seen me fol- 
low the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has yet 
more truth to break out of his Holy Word. I 
cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the 
Reformed churches, who are come to a period in 
religion and will go at present no further than 
the instruments of their reformation. Luther and 
Calvin were great and shining lights in their 
times, yet they penetrated not into the whole 
counsel of God." Our preaching should be not 
a mere repetition and amplification of Christ's 
precepts, but, like that of St. Paul, rooted in 
Christ, yet with its own stalk and branches. 
"We must not content ourselves with old dis- 
coveries, but must be adding new." "Laying 
up is in order to laying out, for the benefit of 
others." — (Matthew Henry.) 

53-58. Christ Rejected at Nazareth. 
Alford and Olshausen regard this incident as 



Oh. XIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



187 



unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in 
his own country, and in his own house. 



58 And he did not many mighty works there, because 
of their unbelief. 



identical with that more fully narrated in Luke 
4 : 14-29. In this they differ from most harmon- 
ists, and for reasons that appear to me inade- 
quate (see notes on Luke). Mark gives a more 
accurate note of time than Matthew, and inter- 
poses between the parables and the rejection at 
Nazareth the account of several miracles. If we 
suppose his chronological order to be correct, the 
reference here to the " mighty works " will be 
explained by these miracles. 

54. His own country, i. e., Nazareth and 
the region about, see Matt. 2 : 23. Synagogue. 
For account of Jewish Synagogue see note on 
Matt. 4 : 23. Astonished. At the fact, the 
method, and the effect of his teaching, see Matt. 
7:29. 

55. Carpenter's son. Mark (6 : s) says the 
carpenter. This, and the Jewish custom which 
required every father to teach his son a trade, 
whatever pursuit in life he might eventually fol- 
low, indicates that Christ worked in his earlier 
years at the carpenter's trade with his father. 
That carpentering was a real art and well ad- 
vanced is evident, both from the structures 
erected, e. g., the Temple and the palace of Sol- 
omon and Herod, and from the tools employed. 
There are references in Scripture to the rule, the 
measuring line, the plane, the compass, the saw, 
the awl, and the hammer and nails. His breth- 
ren. See note below. Joses. The Sinaitic 
manuscript has John, the Vatican has Joseph. 

57. Offended in him. Stumbled at him. 
To them he was a stone of stumbling. They 
recognized to a certain extent his wisdom and 
his power — observe wisdom, not learning — but 
they were too much prejudiced by what they 
supposed they knew of him, and his parentage, 



and his education, to receive his teaching. The 
question here put by the Nazarenes was subse- 
quently put by the JudeanS (see John 7 : 15 and note). 

Observe that Christ is himself a perpetual re- 
buke of the spirit of caste, whether of family, or 
station, or of culture ; for he was in appearance 
the son of a carpenter, in reality a carpenter, 
and in culture, humanly speaking, without the 
learning of the schools of his day. Observe, too, 
that the test of a religious teacher is, not the 
endorsement or certificate of the schools, which 
Christ did not possess ; nor personal popularity, 
which Christ did not always possess ; but real, 
permanent spiritual power and f ruitfulness, as an 
instructor in righteousness. In his own house. 
See John 7 : 5. 

58. He did not many mighty works. 
The Greek word (ivvafiic) signifies literally power, 
or strength. Here it is equivalent to works such 
as would manifest the divine power. Mark's lan- 
guage is singular : He could there do no mighty 
works; he adds, however, that Christ "laid his 
hands upon a few sick folks and healed them ; " 
see note there. Because of their unbelief. 
The object of his miracles, then, was not to con- 
vince wilful skeptics of his divine authority ; if 
it were, he would have done the most miracles 
where the unbelief was strongest. To use the 
miracles as an argument for the divine author- 
ity of Christianity, with those who deny its au- 
thority and reject its teachings, is to misappre- 
hend their purport and aim. They are the 
seal of his divine authority, to those who are 
morally and spiritually ready to receive the truth, 
but need for it some external sanction (see John 
14 : 10, 11). 



BRETHREN OF THE LORD. 



Brethren of our Lord are mentioned ten times 
in the N. T. (see references below). The ques- 
tion how we are to understand these references 
is one which is generally regarded as difficult ; 
albeit, the difficulty has been enhanced, if not 
absolutely created, by dogmatic and theological 
considerations. I shall give in this note, briefly, 
(1) the Scripture references ; (2) a statement of 
the three principal opinions concerning them ; (3) 
the reasons which have led to the view that the 
term brethren signifies cousins ; (4) the grounds 
of the opinion which I believe to be the correct 
one. 

1. Scripture references. In Matt. 12 : 46, Mark 
3 : 31, and Luke 8 : 19, we have an account of an 
endeavor by the mother and brethren of Jesus to 
interrupt Christ's preaching, and get him away 
from the multitude, on account of their fears for 



his personal safety, and their failure to appreci- 
ate and sympathize with his divine enthusiasm 
(compare Mark 3 : 21 ). In Matt. 13 : 55 and Mark 6 : 3 
we have a reference by the Nazarenes to his 
brethren, in connection with his reputed father, 
and his real mother. In John 2 : 12 it is stated 
that Jesus and his mother and brethren went to 
Capernaum for a short time. In John 7 : 3, 5, 10, 
the brethren are introduced alone as urging Jesus 
to go up into Judea, and show himself and his 
works at Jerusalem ; and it is distinctly stated 
that his brethren did not believe on him. In Acts 
1 : 14 they are represented as meeting with Mary 
and the twelve for prayer, after the ascension 
and before the descent of the Holy Spirit. In 
1 Cor. 9 : 5 Paul refers to them in language which 
implies a distinction between them and the 
twelve. In Gal. 1 : 19 he refers to James, the 



188 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIII. 



Lord's brother, as though he were an Apostle. 
Those are all the passages in the N. T. which 
refer directly to brethren or sisters of the Lord. 

(2. ) Theories of interpretation. These are three ; 
(a) that the term brethren is synonymous with 
cousins ; that the brethren and sisters of our 
Lord were children of Mary's sister, and Lange 
supposes adopted by Mary into her own f amily ; 
(6) that they were children of Joseph by a former 
wife, and so regarded as the brethren of Jesus, 
though not so in reality ; (c) that they were 
younger brothers and sisters, true children of 
Joseph and Mary. 

(3.) Arguments for the cousin theory, (a.) The 
term brother is sometimes used in the East to 
dasignate a more distant lateral relationship, as 
the term son is used to designate a more distant 

lineal relationship (Gen. ll : 27, w. 13 : 8, and 14 : 16 ; 29 : 12- 

15). The hypothesis that these brethren were 
cousins or other relations of Jesus is therefore 
not impossible. (6.) Their names appear to iden- 
tify the brethren of the Lord with certain of his 
Apostles. Their names are given as James, Joses 
(Joseph? John? see note above), Simon and 
Judas. Three of Christ's Apostles bore respec- 
tively the names of James, Simon and Judas. 
James, the Apostle, had also a brother Joses 
(Marki5:4o) and a brother Judas (Luke6:ic). (c.) 
James, the Lord's brother, is distinctly classed 
by Paul with the Apostles (Gal 1 : w). (d.) Christ 
would not at his death have commended his 
mother to John (John 19 : 26, 27), nor would that dis- 
ciple have taken her to his own home to live, if 
she had at the time other children living, for they 
would have been her natural protectors, (e.) It is 
derogatory to the character of Mary and to the 
dignity of our Lord to suppose that children 
were born to her subsequent to the birth of 
Jesus. This last argument is, I suspect, the real 
foundation of the cousin theory. The whole R. C. 
doctrine of Mariolatry rests upon the doctrine 
of her perpetual virginity, and the feeling which 
underlies that doctrine exists also in many Prot- 
estant minds in a modified form. 

(4.) Arguments against the cousin theory, (a.) 
The term brethren is never used in the JV. T. to 
signify a wider relationship than true brothers ; 
though its use in a metaphorical sense, e. g. Matt. 
12 : 49, is not uncommon. The O. T. references, 
given above, do not justify us in depriving it in 
the N. T. of its natural and normal meaning. (6.) 
The more general term kinsman (Greek ovy/evil?), 
though of frequent use in the N. T. (Marl 6 : 4, 

Luke 1:36, 58; 2 : 44 j 14: 12; 21 : 16 ; Join 18 : 26 ; ActB 10 ; 24; Rom. 

9 :3; 16 : 7, ii, si), and the more precise designations 
of cousin (Greek uvsytuc), and sister's son (Gr. 
viSg nj? udt2.<p>ic:), (Acta 23 : 16; Col. 4: lo) are never 
used in respect to the brethren of the Lord. 
(c. ) In every instance in the Gospels they are 
mentioned in connection with Jesus' mother, and 



in such a manner as to imply that they were part 
of Mary's household ; while there is nothing to 
imply that they were either children of Joseph 
by a former marriage, or adopted children, (d.) 
In John it is distinctly stated that Jesus' brethren 
did not believe in him, while it is as distinctly 
stated in a preceding chapter that the twelve did 
believe in him, despite the withdrawal of other 

diSCipleS (Compare John 6 : 66-69 with 7 : 3-5). («.) In Acts 

the brethren are said to have met with the twelve, 
and cannot therefore be confounded with or re- 
garded as in part making up the number of the 
twelve. (/. ) The language of Luke 2 : 7 (comp. 
Matt. 1 : 25 and note), " she brought forth her first- 
born son," implies that other children were sub- 
sequently born to Mary, (g.) The only Scripture 
argument for doubting that they were true 
brethren of the Lord is the identity of the names 
of three of them with those of three of the 
Apostles, James, Simon, and Judas. But the 
frequency with which these names occur in 
Jewish families takes all weight from this con- 
sideration. Josephus mentions twenty-one 
Simons, seventeen Joses, and sixteen Judases ; 
and in the apostolic lists are two Simons, two 
Judases and two Jameses. The fact that James, 
the Lord's brother, is called an Apostle (Gal. l : 19), 
does not indicate that he was one of the twelve, 
for Paul and Barnabas are also called Apostles 
(Acts 14 : 14). That title belongs not merely to the 
twelve, but to those who were living and personal 
witnesses of Christ's resurrection (1 cor. 9 : 1 ; 15 : 
8, 9). That Christ commended his mother to the 
keeping of John does not prove, and hardly 
implies that there were not other children, who, 
since they were then unbelievers, were not in 
sympathy with their mother, and who also may 
have been without means to provide for her com- 
fort. 

For myself I can find no other reason for 
taking the language of the N. T., concerning 
the brethren of our Lord, in any except its nat- 
ural sense, save a feeling, which I believe to be 
essentially false, that it somehow derogates from 
the dignity of Mary and of Jesus, to suppose 
that she lived in the marital relation subsequent 
to Christ's birth. Such a feeling, even if well- 
grounded, would certainly be no basis for the 
interpretation of Scripture ; but it is not well- 
grounded. On this point Dr. Schaft's remarks 
are well worth pondering : "Neither his nor her 
honor require the perpetual virginity after his 
birth, unless there be something impure and un- 
holy in the marriage relation itself. The latter 
we cannot admit, since God instituted marriage 
in the state of innocence in Paradise, and St. 
Paul compares it to the most sacred relation ex- 
isting, the union of Christ with his church. 
And the Apostles and Evangelists, who are cer- 
tainly much safer guides in all matters of faith 



Oh. XIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



189 



CHAPTER XIV. 

AT that time r Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame 
of Jesus ; 
2 And said unto his servants, This is John the Bap- 



tist : he is risen from the dead ; and therefore mighty- 
works do show forth themselves in him. 

3 For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, 
and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother 
Philip's wife. 



r Mark : 14 ; Luke 9 : 7, etc. 



and religious feeling than even fathers aud re- 
formers, seem to have had no such feeling of re- 
pugnance to a real marriage between Joseph and 
Mary. It may be regarded as another proof of 
the true and full humanity and the condescend- 
ing love of our Saviour, if he shared the common 
trials of family life in all its forms, and moved 
a brother among brothers and sisters, that he 
might be touched with a feeling of our infirmi- 
ties.'" See on this subject the Introduction to 
Epistle to James, and note on The Apostles, their 
lives and characters, Matt. ch. 10, p. 147. 

Ch. 14 : 1-12.— THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.— 
The testimony op a gutlty conscience (verse 2). — 
The wages op faithful pkeaching (Compare 2 Cor. 
11 : 22-27).— Fear op public opinion is a poor sub- 
stitute for the fear of God (verses 5 and 9). — The 
difference between dancing and the dance 
(verse 6 with chap. 11 : 17). — The danger of volup- 
tuousness. — A BAD PROMISE IS BETTER BROKEN THAN 
KEPT.— The power for evil of a wicked wife and 
mother.— Jesus the refuge of the afflicted and 
persecuted (verse 12). 

For parallel accounts see Mark 6 : 14-29, and 
Luke 3 : 19, 20 ; 9 : 7-9. Luke does not relate 
the death of John. Mark gives some particulars 
omitted here. Josephus (Ant. is : 5) gives more 
fully the history of Herod's marriage to Hero- 
dias. The facts in the case, necessary to an 
understanding of this narrative, are these : 
Herodias, the grand-daughter of Herod the 
Great, through his favorite wife Mariamne, was 
an ambitious, designing, unprincipled woman. 
She married Herod Philip, son of Herod by an- 
other Mariamne, and heir apparent to the throne. 
But Philip was disinherited by his father's will, 
and the kingdom was divided between Antipas, 
Archelaus, and a second Philip ; Antipas, the 
Herod mentioned here, being Tetrarch of Gali- 
lee and Perea (see note on Luke 3 : 1, and map there). He 

married the daughter of Aretas, king of Petra, 
but being brought into company with Hero- 
dias, the wife of his half brother Philip, he 
divorced his own wife, and married Herodias, 
who abandoned her husband for the purpose. 
The king of Petra, indignant at the affront put 
upon him, declared war against Herod Antipas. 
John the Baptist, during the preparations for 
this war, denounced the Tetrarch for this crime, 
which had plunged the province into such diffi- 
culties, as well as for his other tyrannies (Luke 
3 : 19), and Herod, fearing the influence of his 
preaching, arrested him and cast him into prison. 



Subsequent to the assassination of the Baptist, 
described in this chapter, Herod Antipas was 
totally defeated, and his army destroyed by Are- 
tas, an event which the Jews interpreted as a di- 
vine punishment upon Herod for John s death. 
Later in his life, Herod, instigated by Herodias, 
went with her to Rome to obtain the title of 
king, and to complain of Agrippa, his nephew, 
for assuming it, was banished by Caligula to 
Lyons in Gaul, whence he removed to Spain, 
where he died, his wife sharing his exile with 
him. The Scripture references show him to have 
been tyrannical (Luke 3 : 19), cunning (Luke 13 : 31, 32), 
voluptuous, and superstitious. He is the Herod 
to whom Christ was sent by Pilate during the 
Passion week (Luke 23 : 6-11), and his conduct there 
agrees with his character as represented here. 
See for full history of John's imprisonment and 
death AbbotVs Jesus of Nazareth, chapter 21. 

1. At that time. At this period of Christ's 
ministry. Mark gives what is the most probable 
chronological order. Subsequent to the para- 
bles by the sea-shore (Mark 4 : 1-33), followed cer- 
tain miracles (Mark 4 : 35-6 : 6), and the commission 
of the twelve (Mark 6 : 7-13), recorded by Matthew 
more fully in Chapter 10. Their itinerant minis- 
try added to Christ's fame and brought it to the 
ears of Herod. Tetrarch. Properly the gov- 
ernor of the fourth part of a country ; but also 
used to designate a tributary ruler whose author- 
ity and position were not sufficient to justify the 
title king. Herod Antipas is generally and prop- 
erly called Tetrarch, though also entitled " king " 
here, in verse 9, and in Mark 6 : 14, 22. 

2. Therefore, i. e., because he is risen from 
the dead. Mighty works are at work in 
him. (Greek, dvrunug irtoyovoiv.) During his 
life John wrought no miracles (Join 10 : 41). Herod 
supposed that his resurrection had clothed him 
with new power. This opinion was shared by 

Others (Matt. 1G : 14 ; Mark 8 : 2s). Luke Says (Luke 

9 : 7-9) that Herod was perplexed, and implies that 
his belief in John's resurrection was imbibed 
from others. 

3. Laid hold. Arrested; compare for mean- 
ing, Matt. 21 : 46 ; 26 : 4, 50, where the Greek is 
the same. This arrest of John the Baptist had 
taken place nearly a year previous (Matt. 4 : 12). 
Andrews places the arrest of John the Baptist in 
April, a.d. 28, his death in the winter of a.d. 29. 
Prison. In the castle of Macherus, as we learn 
from Josephus. For description of it, see note 
on Matt. 11 : 2. 



190 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh.' XIV. 



4 For John said unto him, It 8 is not lawful for thee 
to have her. 

5 And when he would have put him to death, he 
feared the multitude, because they counted him as a' 
prophet. 

6 But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daugh- 
ter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased 
Herod. 

7 Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her 
whatsoever she would ask. 

8 And she, being before instructed of her mother, 
said, Give me here John Baptist's" head in a charger. 



9 And the king was sorry:" nevertheless, for the 
oath's™ sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he 
commanded it to be given her. 

io And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison. 

ii And his head was brought in a charger, and 
given to the damsel : and she brought it to her mother. 

12 And his disciples came and took up the body, and 
buried" it, and went and told Jesus. 

13 When Jesus heard of it, hey departed thence by 
ship into a desert place apart : and when the people 
had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of 
the cities 



s Lev. 18 : 16; 20 : 21 t oh. 21 : 26 ; Luke 20 : 6 u Prov. 29 : 10 v Jud. 11 : 31, 35; Dan. 6 : 14-16 w Jud. 21 : 1 ; 1 Sam. 14: 

Ecc. 5:2 x Acts 8: 2 y ch. 10: 23; 12: 15; Mark 6 : :)2, etc.; Luke 9 : 10, etc.; John 6 : 1, 2, etc. 



4. Unto him. These words are omitted 
by the Sinaitic manuscript. It is uncertain 
whether John's reproof was a private and per- 
sonal one, or was a public denunciation, before 
the people, of the crime of their prince. It is 
not lawful. Because the wife of Herod Anti- 
pas was still living, the husband of Herodias was 
still living, and Herodias and Herod Antipas 
were relatives within the degrees of consanguin- 
ity, within which marriage was forbidden by Lev. 
18 : 11 ; for Herodias was a grand-daughter of 
Herod the Great, and Antipas was a son of 
Herod the Great, though by another wife. Lev. 
18 : 16 directly forbids marriage to a brother's 
wife, i. e., while the brother is living. 

5. Because he feared the multitude. 
He also stood in awe of John, recognizing in him 
a prophet, and in many respects yielding to his 
counsel (Mark 6 : 20). It is a reasonable deduction 
from Mark's language that Herod Antipas was 
not without some conscience, but was under the 
influence of his wife, who was more resolute and 
more wicked than himself. 

6. Herod's birth-day was kept. By a 
great feast to the nobility of Galilee (Mark 6 : 21). 
The daughter of Herodias. By her pre- 
vious husband Philip, her name was Salome. 
She subsequently married another Herod, Philip 
the tetrarch of Trachonitis, and subsequent to 
his death, Aristobulus, the brother of Agrippa 
(josephus' Ant. is : 5, 4). Danced before them. It 
was in the East, even more than with us, a dis- 
grace for a woman to enter such a scene of carous- 
ing as characterized the king's feast (compare Esther 
l : 10-12). The dance was and still is sensual and 
exciting. The maiden carries her own instru- 
ment with her, and accompanies herself. Only 
the professional dancer, whose position is infe- 
rior to that which she occupies here, will ordina- 
rily prostitute her womanhood to the entertain- 
ment of such an assemblage (see Thomson's Land 
and Book, 2 : 345). But the entertainment was 
adapted to please the voluptuous king, who was 
pleased, not shamed, by the dishonorable accom- 
plishment and exhibition of his adopted daugh- 
ter. 

7. He promised with an oath to give 



her whatsoever she would ask. Mark 
adds, Unto the half of my kingdom. 

"Why marvel? Since even now, after the 
coming in of so high a wisdom, for a dance sake, 
many of these effeminate young men give up 
their very souls, and that without constraint of 
any oath." — (Chrysostom.) 

8. And she being urged on by her 
mother (Gr. ?r(jo^(^ui>). Not, as in our Eng- 
lish version, before instructed. This is not the 
proper significance of the Greek, and it appears 
from Mark 6 : 24, that after the dance she went 
out and asked her mother, What shall I ask? 
before preferring the demand. She was not in 
the conspiracy, but was made the instrument of 
it. Charger. A wooden trencher or dish, on 
which food was served up. In Luke 11 : 39, the 
same word is rendered platter. 

9. Sorry. Both because he feared the people 
(verse 5) and the reproaches of his own conscience 
(Mark 6 : 20). But he feared the ridicule of those 
that sat at meat with him more. He was not 
true king in his own court. Note the difference 
between sorrow and repentance, and the worth- 
lessness of sorrow that does not lead to repent- 
ance. 

12. Went and told Jesus. Observe that 
the death of John the Baptist appears to have put 
an end to the doubts and jealousies which his 
disciples entertained concerning Jesus during 
the Baptist's life. Observe, too, that it was sor- 
row which drove them to Christ, to whom they 
came not while their own teacher was with 
them. When the deprivation of our earthly 
teachers brings us to the heavenly, it is gain, not 
loss. 

On this whole incident the reflection of Chry- 
sostom is worth pondering, "She looked to be 
concealed after this and to hide her crime (by 
the death of her accuser). But the very con- 
trary was the result ; for John's cry was heard 
the more loudly thereafter." " The more thou 
dost dissemble a sin, the more thou dost expose 
it. Sin is not hidden by the addition of sin, but 
by repentance and confession." 

13-27. The Feeding of Five Thousand.— 
Walking on the Sea. — See Mark 6 : 30-56 ; Luke 



Ch. XIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



191 



14 And Jesus went forth, and 1 saw a great multitude, 
and was moved with compassion 3 toward them, and 
he healed their sick. 

15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to 
him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now 
past ; send the multitude away, that they may go into 

f the villages, and buy themselves victuals. 

16 But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart ; 
give ye them to eat. 

17 And they say unto him, We have here but five 
loaves, and two fishes. 

18 He said, Bring them hither to me. 

19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on 
the grass ; and took the five loaves and the two fishes, 
and, looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake ; and 
gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the 
multitude. 

20 And they did all eat, and were filled : and they 
took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets 
full." 

21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand 
men, beside women and children. 

22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples 



to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other 
side, while he sent the multitudes away. 

23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he c 
went up into a mountain apart to pray : and when the 
evening was come, he was there alone. 

24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, 
tossed with waves : for the wind was contrary. 

25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went 
unto them, walking on the sea. 

26 And d when the disciples saw him walking on the 
sea, they were troubled/ saying, It is a spirit ; and they 
cried out for fear. 

27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, 
Be' of good cheer ; it is I, be not afraid. 

28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if its be 
thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 

29 And he said. Come. And when Peter was come 
down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to 
Jesus. 

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was 
afraid ; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, 
save me ! h 

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand,' 



z ch. 9 : 36 ; 15 • 32. . . .n Heb. 4:15. 



,.b 2 Kings 4: 1-7 c Murk 6 : 48.... d Job 9:8; John 6 : 19. 

g Phil. 4: 13.... h Pa. 69 : 1,2; Lam. 3:57....i Ps. 138:7. 



.e Luke 24:37 f Acts 23:11: 



8 : 10-17 ; John, ch. 6 ; and see notes on John. 
Comparing these accounts, the course of events 
appears to have been as follows : — Jesus commis- 
sioned his disciples (Matt. 10) to preach the gospel 
in the villages, while he preached in the cities. 
This combined preaching extended his fame and 
brought it to the ears of Herod, who believed 
Jesus to be John the Baptist risen from the 
dead. This fact came to the knowledge of 
Jesus about the time that his disciples returned 
from their commission (Mark 6 ; 30, 31) ; he there- 
fore called them to leave their work and the 
multitude, and with them departed from the 
western and populous shore of the sea of Gal- 
ilee to a plain at the foot of the mountain east 
of Bethsaida, a town on the north banks of the 
sea of Galilee where the Jordan enters the sea 
(consult map). The people followed Jesus on 
foot, and from his retirement among the mount- 
ains he saw them gathering on the plain. The 
throng was doubtless increased by the fact that 
the Passover was nigh, and pilgrims were on 
their way to Jerusalem to celebrate it (John 6 : 3-5). 
Jesus thereupon descended the mountain, and 
spent the day in teaching them and healing them 

(Mark 6: 34; Lake 9: ll), and toward evening (Matt. 14:15) 

fed them with the five loaves and two small 
fishes. In their enthusiasm, the people would 
have made him king (John 6 : 15) ; whereupon Jesus 
directed the disciples to take to their boat and 
row along the coast to Bethsaida, where he 
would meet them, i. c, Bethsaida Julias, not 
another Bethsaida on the western coast, as has 
sometimes been imagined (see note on Mark 6 : 45). 
One of those winds which often sweep down the 
valley of the Jordan from the Lebanon, struck 
the disciples' boat, and swept it out into the 
lake. It was as they were rowing back to meet 
their Lord, according to appointment, that he 
came forth to meet them "swift walking on 



the wave." They then completed their jour- 
ney, and arrived at the land of Gennesaret, on 
the western shore, where Christ performed the 
miracles referred to here in verses 34^36 and in 
Mark 6 : 53-56, and on the day following 
preached the sermon which John alone records 
(John 6 : 22-71), in which he disclosed something 
more definitely of his approaching death, which 
led many of his Galilean followers to forsake him 
(John 6 : 66), and which constituted the close of his 
public ministry in Galilee. For notes on the 
miraculous feeding of the multitude and the 
subsequent walking on the sea, with the sermon 
which followed, see John chap. 6. Luke de- 
scribes the feeding of the five thousand, but not 
the walking on the sea. This feeding is not to 
be confounded with that of the four thousand 
(Matt. 15 : 32-39), which took place later in Christ's 
ministry. 

28-31. Peter attempts to walk on the 
wateb. Peculiar to Matthew. This incident 
entirely negatives the hypothesis of Bleek, that 
perhaps Jesus was on the land, and the disciples 
in the storm and darkness thought him to be on 
the sea. Of course there was no room for mis- 
apprehension in the case of Peter. The incident 
itself is generally regarded as an illustration of 
Peter's great faith. To me the lesson appears 
quite different. Zealous, but impetuous and 
self-confident, the same spirit which led Peter 
into the court of the High Priest at the time of 
Christ's trial — a certain rash willingness to go 
into danger, a certain thoughtless scorn of it, a 
certain subtle and yet unconscious vanity in the 
exhibition of his own faith and courage — led him 
now to wish to show his faith by walking on the 
wave. But he only showed his fear. Christ 
walked on the wave for a purpose, to oome to 
his disciples whom otherwise he could not reach ; 
and he fell not ; Peter walked on the wave for 



192 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XV. 



and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, 
wherefore didst thou doubt ?■> 

32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind 
ceased. 11 

33 Then they that were in the ship came and wor- 
shipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of 
God. 1 

34 And m when they were gone over, they came into 
the land of Gennesaret. 

35 And when the men of that place had knowledge 
of him, they sent out into all that country round about, 
and brought unto him all that were diseased : 

36 And besought him that they might only touch the 
hem™ of his garment : and as many as touched were 
made perfectly whole. 



T 



CHAPTER XV. 

HENp came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which 
were of Jerusalem, saying, 



2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the 
elders ? for they wash not their hands when they eat 
bread. 

3 But he answered and said unto them. Why do ye 
also transgress the commandment of God by your 
tradition ?i 

4 For God commanded, saying,' Honour thy father 
and mother : and, He" that curseth father or mother, let 
him die the death. 

5 But ye say. Whosoever shall say to his father or 
his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be 
profited by me ; 

6 And honour not' his father or his mother, he shall 
be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God 
of none effect by your tradition. 

7 Ye hypocrites ! well did Esaias prophesy of you, 
saying, 

8 This u people draweth nigh unto me with their 
mouth, and honoureth me with their lips : but their 
heart is far from me. 



i James 1:6 k Ps. 107 : 29 1 Dan. 3 : 25 ; Luke 4 : 41 ; John 1 : 49 ; 6 : 69 ; 

9: 20; Num. 15 : 38 ; Mark 3 : 10 ; Luke 6 : 19; Acts 19 : 12.... o John 6 : 37. 
20: 12; Deut. 5 : 16 a Ex. 21 : 17; Lev. 20 : 9 t Deut. 27 : 16 u Isa. 2 



11 : 27 ; Acts 8 : 37 ; Rom. 1 : 4 m Mark 6 : 53 : 

..p Mark 7 : 1, etc q Col. 2 : 8, 23 ; Tit. 1 : 14 r 

■ : 13. 



ch. 
Ex, 



no other purpose than the pleasure of doing a 
great deed, and demonstrating, perhaps to him- 
self even more than to others, that he dared 
attempt it ; and he would have sunk but for his 
Saviour's presence. It was a useless miracle for 
which Peter asked ; the result was an exhibition, 
not of his strength, but of his weakness. That 
Christ did not regard Peter's act as an exempli- 
fication of faith is evident from his rebuke, "O 
thou of little faith." And the lesson appears to 
me to be, True faith never attempts wonders for 
the sake of doing them. It relies on God for 
every thing in time of need, but never seeks or 
manufactures occasions for marvelous experiences or 
exhibitions of faith. It is noteworthy that the 
Gospels narrate the failures in miraculous power 
and in faith in understanding of Christ (comp. Matt. 

16: 10,11, 23; 17 : 16; Mark9:10-33) as nO bOOk Of myths 

would do. 
32, 33. They that were in the ship. 

Alford thinks the crew are designated. But 
there is nothing in the account to indicate that 
there was any crew. The disciples were fisher- 
men, and would have probably managed their 
own boat. Mark says they were sore amazed, 
and wondered, "for they considered not the 
miracle of the loaves ; for their heart was hard- 
ened." But this language is not severer than 
some words of condemnation uttered by Christ 
directly to the twelve, e.g., Matt. 16 : 8, 9 ; Luke 
24 : 25. Thou art the Son of God. Com- 
pare Matt. 8 : 27. There a similar quelling of 
the storm led only to the expession, "What 
manner of man is this ? " Here the answer is af- 
forded to that question. This is the first time 
that Jesus is so called by men in the Synoptic 
Gospels. If we compare the expression with 
Peter's declaration of faith, "Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16 : 16), 
we may find in his experience here, the seed of 
his faith there. Observe that this miracle is re- 



garded by the disciples as an evidence of Christ's 
divine nature and authority, and that he does 
nothing to indicate that they are under any mis- 
apprehension. 

34-36. Miracles in the Land op Genne- 
saret. Peculiar to Matthew and Mark 6 : 53-56. 
John, however, gives a hint of it in his expres- 
sion : "After these things," i. e., after the ser- 
mon at Capernaum, which followed the feeding 
of the five thousand, "Jesus walked in Gali- 
lee" (John 7 : 1). The chronological order is 
somewhat uncertain. It is probable, however, 
that the account here and the parallel one in 
Mark is of a tour throughout Galilee, more 
or less protracted, following the miracle of the 
feeding and the sermon at Capernaum, which 
was his last discourse in that city ; that during 
this tour the rebuke of the Pharisees, narrated 
in the next chapter, was uttered ; and that 
shortly thereafter Jesus left Galilee, and re- 
treated with his disciples into the coasts of Tyre 
and Sidon, as narrated in chap. 15 : 21. 

The land of Gennesaret. A plain lying 
along the north-western shore of the Sea of Gali- 
lee. It is stated by Drs. Robinson and Porter to 
be about three miles long and one broad. Stan- 
ley makes it much larger ; but, of course, its 
bounds are indeterminate, and one writer prob- 
ably includes what the other excludes from the 
plain. Though now covered with thorn-bushes, it 
gives evidence of having once possessed a marvel- 
ous fertility. Tiberias, Magdala, Chorazin, and 
Capernaum were situated on or near this plain, 
which was watered by four mountain springs, 
which at that time the heats of summer seldom 
if ever impoverished. Hem of garment. See 
notes on Mark 5 : 27. 



Ch. 15 : 1-20. Eating with unwashed 
Hands. Peculiar to Matthew and Mark 7 : 1- 
23. The account is fullest in Mark. See notes 



Ch. XV.] 



MATTHEW. 



193 



g But in vain they do worship me, teaching/^)?- doc- 
trines," the commandments of men. 

10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, 
Hear, and understand : 

it Not" that which goethinto the mouth defileth a 
man ; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this 
defileth a man. 

12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, 
Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after 
they heard this saying ? 

13 But he answered and said, Every plant 1 which my 
heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. 

14 Let them alone : they? be blind leaders of the 
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall 
into the ditch. 

15 Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare 
unto us this parable. 

16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without under- 
standing ? 



17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever enter- 
eth in at the mouth 1 goeth into the belly, and is cast 
out into the draught ? 

18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth 
come forth trom the heart : and they detile the man. 

19 For" out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur- 
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blas- 
phemies : 

20 These are the things which defile a man : but to 
eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. 

21 Then' Jesus went thence, and departed into the 
coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 

_ 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the 
same coasts, and cried unto him, saying. Have mercy 
on me, O Lord, thou son of David ! c my daughter is 
grievously vexed with a devil. 

23 But he answered her not a word. d And his dis- 
ciples came, and besought him, saying, Send her away ; 
for she crieth after us. 



v Col. 2 : 22 iv Arts 10 : 15; Rom. 14 : 14, 20; 1 Tim. 4:4; Titus 1 : 16 x John 15 : 2, 6....y ch. 23 ; 16; Luke 6 : 39.... z Luke 6 : 45 ; 

James 3:6 a Gen. 0:6; 8 : 21 ; Prov. 6 : 14 ; 24 : 9 ; Jer. 17 : 9 ; Rom. 3 : 10-19 ; Gal. 5 : 11-21 ; Eph. 2:3; Titus 3:3 b Mark 

7 : 24 Luke 18 : 38, 39 d Ps. 28 : 1 ; Lam. 3 : 8. 



there. The time and occasion are uncertain ; 
probably during the tour throughout Galilee re- 
ferred to in the last verses of the preceding chap- 
ter, and more fully described in Mark 6 : 53-56, 
and hinted at in John 7 : 1. The Scribes and 
Pharisees came from Jerusalem (Mark i ■. i), per- 
haps on their return from the Passover mentioned 
in John 6 : 4. With this passage should be com- 
pared the analogous teaching, on a different oc- 
casion, in Luke 11 : 37, &c. 

13-14. These verses are found only in Mat- 
thew. The plant is a common symbol in Scrip- 
ture of teaching, both true and false, (Matt. 13 : 3-8, 
24-32; Mark 4: 26-29; John is : i, 2). Here the decla- 
ration is that any teaching, however erroneous, 
which God has not inspired, shall not abide ; the 
moral is the same as that of the parable of the 
tares (Matt. 13 : 37-43 and notes) ; the principle the same 
as that substantially promulgated by Gamaliel to 
the Sanhedrim (Acts 5 : 38, 39). Let them alone. 
This seems at first a singular counsel respecting 
the teachers of error. It is, however, different 
from, Let the error alone, or, Let the pu- 
pils of error alone. Christ very rarely entered 
into direct controversy with false teachers. I 
think in no single instance did he invite to or 
provoke a controversy with them. He devoted 
himself to the affirmative work of preaching the 
truth, and, for the most part, let the preachers 
of error alone. And God has rooted up their 
plants. Christ is, in this respect, an example to 
the modern Christian teacher in dealing with 
modern antagonisms tc Christianity. The best 
corrective of Rationalism and Romanism is the 
preaching of an affirmative and practical Chris- 
tianity. Fall into the ditch. Observe that 
Christ's disciples had been assailed for eating 
with unwashed hands, because this was in the 
eyes of the Pharisees an uncleanness. Christ's 
response to his disciples embodies the idea that 
the guidance of the Pharisees will lead directly 
to the foulest uncleanness. 



Ch. 15 ; 21-^8— THE SYKO-PHfENICIAN W0MAK — 
Faith illustrated ; it is earnest, importunate, 

HUMBLE. 

This incident follows immediately after Christ's 
last tour through Galilee. It is recorded only 
here and in Mark 7 : 24-30. The account is full- 
est here, but Mark adds some significant facts, 
chiefly the intimation that Jesus' object in going 
into the heathen territory, was to secure the 
rest which he could not obtain, even among the 
mountains of his own land. 

21. Thence. From Galilee. Into the 
coasts of Tyre and Sidon. For description 
of this region see note on Matt. 11 : 21. Whether 
he went into the Phoenician territory or only to 
the borders of it has been questioned. The 
phrase here employed (Greek eh tit fiiotj) occurs 
in Matthew 2 : 22, and 16 : 13 ; also in Mark 8 : 10, 
and Acts 2 : 10, and in all of these cases indicates 
going into the territory. The context sustains 
that interpretation here; he left Galilee and 
went into Phoenicia to secure rest. Mark 7 : 24, 
adds that he entered into a house, and would 
have no man know it ; but he could not be 
hid. 

22. A woman of Canaan. Mark describes 
her more particularly. She was a Greek or Gen- 
tile, i. e. in language and religious education, 
and a Syro-PTieenkian. There were Phoenicians 
in Africa, known as Liby-Phoenicians, and in 
Syria known as Syro-Phoenicians. She belonged 
to the latter ; was probably one of a mixed race, in 
which the blood of the Syrians and Phoenicians 
mingled, and therefore doubly despised by the 
Jews. The term Canaan was the older title of the 
country, and the inhabitants were successively 
termed Canaanites and Phoenicians, as the inhab- 
itants of England were successively called Britons . 
and Englishmen. Matthew used the older term, 
Mark the later. From the same coasts 
coming out, cried unto him. Not, as in 
our version, came out of the same coasts. She was 



194 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XV. 



24 But he answered and said, e I am not sent but unto 
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

25 Then came she, and worshipped him, saying, 
Lord, help me ! 

26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take 
the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. f 



27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of 
the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. 

28 Thens Jesus answered and said unto her, O 
woman, great is thy faith: be h it unto thee even as thou 
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that 
very' hour. 



e ci. 10 : 5, 6 ; Acts 3 : 26 f cb. 7 : 6 ; Rev. 22 : 15 



: Job 13 : 15 ; 23 : 10 ; Lam. 3 : 82 h Ps. 145 : 19. . . .i John 4 : 50-5; 



a woman of Canaan from (una) the same terri- 
tory, and came out to meet Jesus probably from 
her house or village. Have mercy on me. 
The suffering of the child is the burden of the 
mother. Her prayer is for mercy for herself, so 
clearly is she identified with her daughter. Ob- 
serve, she does not ask him to come and heal, as 
the nobleman in John 4 : 49, and the ruler in Matt. 
9 : 18. Her faith shows itself in the very outset. 
Compare the similar faith of the centurion in 
Matt. 8 : 8, 9, and observe that in both cases it 
was manifested, not by an Israelite, but by a 
Gentile. Son of David. Evidently the wo- 
man had some knowledge of the Old Testament, 
and its prophecies of a Messiah. She may have 
been a proselyte. Grievously vexed with 
a devil. Literally very evil deviled, and so rcn= 
dered in one of the old versions. On the nature 
of demoniacal possessions see note at close of 
chap. 8, page 85. 

23. Send her away. Dismiss her. The 
language does not indicate whether by healing or 
by giving a positive refusal to heal. The reason- 
able implication, however, is that they had en- 
deavored to drive her away, as was done in other 
parallel cases (Matt. io: 13; Luie is : 39), but in vain. 

■ They recognized Christ's object to be retirement, 
an object which her presence and petitions were 
sure to defeat. 

24. I am not sent but unto the lost 
sheep of the house of Israel. Compare 
note on Matt. 10 : 6. Here, however, Christ de- 
fines his mission, not that of his disciples ; hut 
only the limits of his own personal and earthly 
ministry. It was not till after his death that the 
vail was rent, which shut out all but the high 
priest from the Holy of Holies — and by his death 
that he saves all who come unto him whether 
Jew or Gentile. James Morison gives well the 
reason for his declining to extend his earthly 
mission to Gentile races : " To have spread out 
his ministry farther during the brief period of 
his terrestrial career, would simply have been to 
have thinned and weakened his influence. What- 
ever might have been gained extensively would 
have been lost intensively." Compare Romans 
11 : 13-17, where the implication is that the re- 
jection of Christ by the Jews was, in the Provi- 
dence of God, the precursor of the preaching of 
the Gospel to the Gentiles. It must come to the 
world either through the Jews, or despite the 
refusal of the Jews to receive it. Compare also 



Matt. 21 : 43, 43, where the implication is the 
same. 

25. Then came she. Hitherto she had 
followed him in the way ; now she came, as Mark 
more particularly describes, to the house where 
he was. And worshipped him. Rather rev- 
erenced him. See note on Matt. 8 : 2, where the 
original verb is the same. 

26. It is not meet. Not, It is not allowable 
(iteonv), though some manuscripts give this read- 
ing, but, It is not appropriate (xu/.uc). This is 
the reading of the Received Text, of the Sinaitic 
manuscript, and the undoubted reading in Mark 
7 : 37. Mark adds an important sentence, which 
both explains this declaration and gives the key 
to the mother's reply. Christ says, "Let the chil- 
dren first be filled; for it is not meet," etc. 
This language implies that there is food in the 
Gospel for the Gentile as well as for the Jew, 
but that the Gospel should begin with Israel. It 
is clear from this that Christ did not teach that 
the Gentiles were to be despised and outcast, and 
did not intend to be so understood. And cast 
it to the pet dogs. The Greek here (zvvuqloy) 
signifies a little dog ; is here probably equivalent 
to house or pet dog, in contradistinction to the 
dogs of the street, (xvior), which in the East are 
mostly without masters, and roam the towns and 
cities in packs, and feed upon offal and even 
corpses. The word which I have rendered "pet 
dogs, ' ' is used only here and in Mark 7 : £7, 28. 
Its use, coupled with the intimation that the 
Gentiles are to be fed but not at first, gives an 
indefinable but important color to the whole inci- 
dent, which has been generally overlooked. 

27. Truth, Lord : for the pet dogs eat 
of the crumbs which fall from the table 
of their masters. Observe, that she acquies- 
ces heartily in Christ's declaration : it is not fit 
that the dogs be fed before the children ; that she 
gives the reason : because they feed from that 
which the children cast away or pass by in indif- 
ference ; and that she recognizes in the Israelites 
the masters, in spiritual things, of the Gentiles, 
from whose table the Gentiles are to be fed, 
for she says not, The table of the master, but The 
table of their masters (rtoi- xvqIiov avtoJv). Our 
English version, Yet the dogs feed, implies a con- 
trast between his statement and hers. The orig- 
inal (xa\ yu(>) implies that she gives, in her state- 
ment, a reason for her assent to his. It is not 
needful to deprive the children to supply the 



Ch. XV.] 



MATTHEW. 



195 



29 And' Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh 
unto the sea of Galilee ; and went up into a mountain, 
and sat down there. 

30 And great multitudes came unto him, having with 



them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and 
many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet ; and he 
healed them : k 
31 Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when 



j Mark 7 : 31 k Ps. 103 : 3 ; Isa. 35 : 5, 6 



dogs. So it is not needful to deprive Israel of its 
blessing in order to give me the blessing I crave : 
what they have cast away I seek. It would be 
different if I asked you to leave Israel to preach 
and to heal in Phoenicia. 

28. Compare the language of Mark (7 : 30), 
" And when she was come to her house, she found 
the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon 
the bed." 

Meaning of this Incident. In interpreting 
this incident we are to remember certain facts 
which the commentators, as well as the skeptical 
critics, have sometimes forgotten, (a.) Jesus 
departed from Galilee, not to continue his minis- 
try, but to rest from it. To have complied with 
the mother's request would have defeated his 
purpose ; did defeat it, so that he straightway 
retreated again from the coasts of Tyre and 
Sidon into the mountains of Galilee, and thence 
into the region about Cossarea Philippi (Mark 15 : 29; 
16 : 13). (&.) He knew by a perfect spiritual in- 
sight just what measure of trial the woman 
could bear, so that the test, which would have 
been hazardous if attempted by another, was not 
so when used by him. (c.) The presumption that 
the tone of his voice, and the manner of his 
utterance, gave to his words a different impres- 
sion from that which they bear in the simple read- 
ing of them, is not unreasonable, in the light of 
the result to which they led. The interpretation 
of this incident, which regards Christ as having 
repelled and rebuffed the woman, treated her 
with an appearance of Jewish contempt as a dog, 
and yielded at the last to her importunity, in 
spite of his original apparent, if not real inten- 
tion, I cannot accept because (a), so interpreted, 
the incident stands absolutely isolated ; there is 
no other case in the Gospels in which Christ re- 
fused help to the suffering and the needy. (6.) 
It contravenes his whole spirit ; there is no other 
in which he indicated any sharing or appearance 
of sharing in the prejudice which treated Gen- 
tiles as dogs ; on the contrary, his ministry in 
Galilee was begun by a public rebuke of that 
prejudice (Luke 4 : 25, 26), a rebuke subsequently re- 
peated at Capernaum (Matt. 8 : 10-12). (c.) The 
language of the narrative itself does not, when 
carefully studied, confirm this impression — the 
impression of one hard to bs entreated. His 
use of the distinctive word " little or pet dogs," 
his intimation of mercy to the Gentiles in the 
phrase "Let the children first be filled," (Mark 
7 : 27), and the woman's method of taking up his 



reply, not taking exception to his statement, 
but making his declaration, It is not fitting to take 
the children's bread and cast it to the pet dogt, 
a reason for her own, Truth, Lord, for the pet 
dogs eat of the crumbs, all look toward a differ- 
ent tone and spirit in the whole scene. It ap- 
pears then to me that Christ intended his lan- 
guage as a rebuke to the disciples, not to the 
mother ; that her quick intuition read in his 
tone what they failed to read in his words ; 
that her ready repartee is the language of 
awakened hope, not the last despairing cry of 
a crushed and broken heart ; that he neither 
intended to repel her nor, in fact, did so ; but, 
knowing her faith, intended to draw forth its ex- 
pression as a lesson to his as yet untaught dis- 
ciples, to whom this woman of an apostate race 
was but a Gentile dog. In other words, I conceive 
that he spoke in the manner which we some- 
times use with children, when we intend to grant 
their request yet hold them off, and make pre- 
tence of finding reason why it should not be 
granted, for the purpose of trying their earnest- 
ness. His very commendation, Great is thy faith, 
I take to be a recognition of her spiritual appre- 
ciation of his love, which his disciples did not 
then and have not always since comprehended as 
well as she did. 

29-39. The four thousand fed. The 
events which follow, up to and including chapter 
18, describe a period of apparent retirement, 
spent partly in Galilee, partly north of Galilee in 
the districts about Csesarea Philippi. Matthew 
does, indeed, record some public miracles, as the 
one here, and Mark adds more that Matthew 
omits ; but it is noticeable that there is no inti- 
mation here, or anywhere after this, of any consid- 
erable preaching of the Gospel in Galilee. On 
the other hand, Christ's endeavor to remain in 
retirement is not only clearly stated by Mark (9 : so), 
but is also indicated, less clearly, in the fact that 
our Lord's miracles are performed apart from the 
multitude (Mark 7:33; 8:22-26), and are accompan- 
ied by injunctions of secrecy (Matt. 9 : 30 ; Mark 7 : 
36 ; a : 26). He goes, too, from one district to 
another, as if seeking repose, which the throng 

deny him (Matt. 15 : 29, 30, 39 ; 16 : 1, 4; Mark 7 : 22, 27). So 

marked is this change in his ministry, that his 
disciples taunt him with his concealment (John i -. 
2-5). This period, up to his departure from Galilee, 
mentioned in Matthew 19 : 1, to fulfill the min- 
istry, more fully described by John, is devoted 
chiefly to instructing his disciples respecting the 



196 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVI. 



they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, 
the lame to walk, and the blind to see : and they glori- 
fied the God of Israel. 

32 Then 1 Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, 
I have compassion on the multitude, because they con- 
tinue with me now three days, and have nothing to 
eat : and I will not send them away fasting, lest they 
faint in the way. 

33 And™ his disciples say unto him, Whence should 
we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so 
great a multitude ? 

34 And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have 
ye ? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. 

35 And" he commanded the multitude to sit down on 
the ground. 



36 And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and 
gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, 
and the disciples to the multitude. 

37 And they did all eat, and were filled : and they took 
up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. 

38 And they that did eat were four thousand men, 
beside women and children. 

39 And he sent away the multitude, and took ship, 
and came into the coasts of Magdala. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and 
tempting, desired him that he would shew them a 
sign' from heaven. 



I Mark 8 : I, etc m 2 Kings 4 : 43, 44 n ch. 14: 19, etc 1 Sim. !) : 13 ; Luke 

Mark 8 : 11, etc.; Luke 11 : 16; 12 : 54-53; 



21 : 30 p Mark 8: 10 q. ch. 12: 38, etc. ; 



Kingdom of God, and embraces warnings against 
the leaven of the Pharisees (16 : 1-12), the full dis- 
closure of his own divinity (16 : 13-20), accompanied 
by clearer prophecies of his death and resurrec- 
tion (ig : 21-23), the manifestation of his glory in 
the transfiguration (lr : 1-8), and instructions re- 
specting faith, humility, and forgiveness and kind- 
ness (ch. n : 19 to ch. is : 35). The account of the mira- 
cles of healing here referred to, as well as of the 
feeding of the four thousand, is fullest in Mark ; 
see notes there (Mark i ■. 31-37; 8 : 1-9). 

29. It is evident from the fact that after the 
feeding Christ took ship to come into the coasts 
of Magdala, which was on the western and pop- 
ulous side of the sea, that he came at first into 
the eastern coasts. Mark adds that he came 
through the coast of Decapolis, a district chief- 
ly on the eastern shore. See note there. Went 
up into a hill country. Not a particular 
mountain, as might be supposed from our version, 
but up into the hill district east of the sea of 
Galilee ; for the most part then, as now, wild and 
uninhabited. Sat down there. That is, stop- 
ped there. Sit is sometimes thus used in the N. T. 
as equivalent to dwell or abide, e. g. Matt. 4 : 10 ; 
Luke 1 : 79 ; Acts 14 : 8. 

30. Cast them down. A graphic indication 
of their haste and eagerness. 

31. The maimed to be whole. Tischen- 
dorf omits this clause. Alford retains it. It 
does not imply that any missing members were 
restored. The word rendered maimed signifies 
literally bent or crooked, and nothing more is nec- 
essarily involved than a restoration of vitality to 
a before useless member, as from paralysis. The 
word applies particularly to the hands, as the 
word lame to the feet. In no recorded instance 
did our Lord create members which were miss- 
ing. Even his miraculous powers Christ did 
not put forth, says Olshausen, without internal 
law or order. In this respect, it may be added, 
his miracles differ from the mere prodigies of 
the pseudo wonder-workers. Mark (7 : 31-37) gives 
an account of a particular miracle, the healing 
of one who was deaf and had an impediment in 
his speech. 



God of Israel. The Pharisees accused Jesus 
of blasphemy under a statute (Deut. 13 : 1-5) which 
punished with death all attempts to divert the 
allegiance of the people from Jehovah to other 
gods, and subsequently condemned him to death 
on the ground that he had thus attempted to di- 
vert the allegiance of the people to himself. 
Observe the refutation of his charge here ; their 
reverence for the God of Israel was increased, 
not lessened. It is still charged that the doctrine 
of the divinity of Christ leads to idolatry, the 
substitution of a hero worship for the worship 
of a Divine Spirit. In fact, Christianity has pro- 
duced the highest and most intelligent and spir- 
itual worship of the Infinite and Invisible God 

(compare John 5 : 23). 

32-39. This miracle of the feeding of the 
four thousand, not to be confounded with the 
feeding of the five thousand before described by 
Matthew, is more fully described by Mark 8 : 1-9. 
See notes there. It is not mentioned by the 
other two Evangelists. The only material varia- 
tion in the two accounts is in the description of 
Christ's subsequent departure from the eastern 
shore. Matthew says he came into the coasts 
of Magdala, that is, its environs. Mark says 
he came into the parts of Dalmanutha. Nei- 
ther place is elsewhere mentioned in the N. T. 
Magdala or Magadar is undoubtedly identical 
with the modern El-Mejdel. It is situated on 
the western coast of the sea of Galilee. See 
map. It was probably the birth-place, and gave 
the cognomen to Mary Magdalene, that is, Mary 
of Magdala. Dalmanutha was either identical 
with it, being only another name for the same 
place, or a village in the immediate vicinity. 



Ch. 16 : 1-4. DEMAND OF A SIGN.— Oub duty : to 

STUDY THE SIGNS OP THE SPIRITUAL SEASONS. — THE 
ANSWER TO MODERN SKEPTICISM : THE SIGNS OP THE 
PRESENT TIMES. 

Peculiar to Matthew and Mark 8 : 10-12 ; fuller 
here. An analogous demand had been pre- 
viously made and compliance refused. For 
there is no reason for identifying this account 
with that given by Matthew, in chapter 12 : 38-40. 



Oh. XVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



197 



2 He answered and said unto them, When it is 
evening, ye say, It will be fair weather ; for the sky is 
red. 

3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to'day, 
for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites ! ye 
can discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not discern 
the signs of the times? 

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after 



a sign ; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but 
the sign of the prophet Jonas' And he left them, and 
departed. 

5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, 
they had forgotten to take bread. 

6 Then Jesus said unto them, 8 Take heed and be- 
ware of the leaven' of the Pharisees and of the Saddu- 
cees. 



r Jonah 1:17 s Luke 12 : 1. . . .t 1 Cor. 5:0-8; Gal. 5 : 9 ; 2 Tiin. 2 : 1G, 17. 



The Jews believed that false gods could work 
signs on earth, but only the true God could give 
a sign from heaven. It is not at all strange that 
the Pharisees and Sadducees should repeat their 
demand for such a sign, nor that Christ should 
reply, as before, by referring them to his future 
resurrection, ao typified by the miraculous res- 
cue of Jonah. That this was the second de- 
mand of this sort is incidentally confirmed by 
the touching allusion, in Mark, to the effect 
which their resolute unbelief produced on the 
mind of Jesus : He sighed deeply in his spirit. 
Observe that in Christ, skepticism, even the most 
obdurate, awoke pity rather than indignation or 
a spirit of controversy. "He pities and bewails 
them, as incurably diseased." — (Chrysostom.) 

2, 3. A figure analogous to that employed in 
these verses is to be found in Luke after the 
words, He answered and said unto them, are 
omitted in several of the best manuscripts, in- 
cluding the Vatican and the Sinaitic. Tischen- 
dorf omits them. This figure is net found, 
either, in Mark's account. But the internal evi- 
dence of genuineness is conclusive to my mind. 
I can easily imagine that an early copyist might, 
with Strauss, think the passage "totally unin- 
telligible ;" but I cannot as readily believe that 
any one should have had the genius to conceive 
and interpolate it. 

Lowering. Gloomy, with an aspect anal- 
ogous to that of one who lowers his brows in 
depression or anger. Ye can discern the 
face of the sky. The Jews were curious in 
observing the face of the heavens, and the tem- 
perature of the air, from which they believed 
they could discern the prospects of the season. 
Thus, from the direction which the smoke took 
on the last day of the feast of the Tabernacles, 
they undertook to foretell the quantity of the 
rain for the ensuing year. Signs of the times. 
The original word (zu(^'c) rendered times, signi- 
fies properly an appointed or set time. It is used in 
this sense in John the Baptist's preaching, "The 
time is fulfilled " (Mark 1 : 15), and in this sense 
here, Christ's question is, Cannot ye discern the 
signs or tokens of the time appointed, by symbol 
and prophet in the O. T., for the coming of the 
Messiah ? — in the overthrow of the throne of 
Herod and the subjection of Israel to Rome, in 
the degradation, political and moral, of the realm, 
in the coming of John the Baptist in the spirit of 



Elijah, and in the miracles wrought for the 
blessing of the people in fulfillment of such 
prophecies as that of Isaiah 61 : 1-3. 

The word miracle in the N. T. is generally a 
translation of the Greek word (aijuetov) here ren- 
dered sign ; for the miracle is always a sign or 
token of the divine presence and power. Ob- 
serve then two practical lessons to ourselves in 
Christ's reply here. It is the duty of Christians 
to study the signs of God's seasons in church 
and state, and adapt their work accordingly. 
The answer to modern skepticism is not chiefly 
the miracles of the past, i. e. the signs of divine 
power in the first century, but the signs of divine 
presence and power in our own times. Christ 
never employs miracles to overthrow unbelief; 
in employing the argument from them for that 
purpose we do not use them as Christ used 
them. Compare note on Matt. 13 : 58. 

I'll. 10 : 5-12. WARDING AGAINST THE LEAVEN OF 
FALSEHOOD.— The dangers of false teaching and 

PERNICIOUS INFLUENCE — THE DUTY OF WATCHFUL- 
NESS. — Formalism, Rationalism, Worldllness, are 
SENS AKIN TO EACH OTHER. 

Peculiar to Matthew and Mark 8 : 13-21. The 
latter account is more graphic and minute. The 
same caution against the leaven of the Pharisees 
was repeated on another occasion. See Luke 
12:1. 

5. To the other side. From the western 
and populous side of the Sea of Galilee to the 
north-eastern shore. Immediately after this 
conversation they went, perhaps to get bread, to 
Bethsaida (Mark 8 : 22) which is situated at the en- 
trance of the Jordan into the lake (see map). 
To take bread. Rather loaves. Mark with 
characteristic particularity adds that " neither had 
they in the ship with them more than one loaf." 
The loaf ' was a thin cake or cracker, made of 
flower and water or milk, ordinarily mixed with 
leaven and left to rise, and baked in the oven. 
It was generally about a finger's breadth in thick- 
ness. Three were not too much for a meal for a 
single person (Luke 11 : 5), and one was considered 
barely sufficient to sustain life. It is one of these 
crackers or cakes that is intended by the phrase 
" morsel " in 1 Sam. 2 : 36, and "piece " in Jer. 
37 : 21. Two hundred were not a great supply 
for a company. See 1 Sam. 25 : 18 ; 2 Sam. 16 : 1. 

6. Take heed and beware. A double in- 



198 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVL 



7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, // is 
because we have taken no bread. 

8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them," 
O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, 
because ye have brought no bread ? 

9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the 
five' loaves of the five thousand, and how many bas- 
kets ye took up ? 



io Neither the seven" loaves of the four thousand, 
and how many baskets ye took up ? 

ii How is it that ye do not understand, that I spake 
it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware 
of the leaven of the Pharisees and ot the Sadducees ? 

12 Then understood they how that he bade them not 
beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine" ot 
the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 



) ; 8 : 20 ; 14 : 31. 



ch. 14 : 19, etc w ch. 15 : 34, etc. . . .x ch. 15 : 1- 



junction. i?e on the watch for secret errors and 
evil influences, and guard yourselves against them. 
Leaven. This answered to the yeast of modern 
times. It is in the Bible a symbol of a secret, 
subtle and pervasive influence ; generally of an 
evil character. Compare 1 Cor. 5 : 6-8 and notes 
on Matt. 13 : 33. Of the Pharisees and of 
the Sadducees. Mark omits of the Sadducees 
and substitutes of Herod. The Pharisees were 
the formalists of the first century, the Sadducees 
the rationalists, the Herodians the unprincipled 
and worldly politicians. The leaven against 
which Christ warns his disciples is that of for- 
malism and pretence, of sneering unbelief, and 
of the craft and cunning of worldliness. Com- 
pare his characterization of Herod in Luke 13 : 
33. 

7. They reasoned among themselves, etc. 
Great care was taken by the Pharisaic canons 
what leaven was to be used and what not ; e. g. 
whether heathen leaven might be employed, is 
the subject of rabbinical discussions. The dis- 
ciples thought that Christ reproved them for 
their carelessness in forgetting to provide bread, 
lest they corrupt themselves by using bread 
mixed with the Pharisees' leaven. The incident 
indicates the spiritual dullness of the disciples 
(compare Luke 22 : 38), and refutes the idea of one 
school of modern rationalists, that many of the 
spiritual ideas of the Gospels originated with the 
Evangelists and were imputed by them to Christ. 
So far from originating any, they could not even 
understand his. Observe the indication that, in 
their ordinary travels, they provided themselves 
with food, the injunction of Matt. 10 : 9, 10 being 
purely temporary in its application ; and also 
that in their travels our Lord depended on the 
disciples to provide the necessary food for their 

journey. (Compare Join 4 : 8\ 

8. Which when Jesus knew. Perhaps 
from observation, perhaps by that immediate 
knowledge of the heart of which the N. T. af- 
fords SO many illustrations (Mark 2:8; Luke 5 : 22 ; 6 : 8). 

O ye of little faith. Observe the implication 
as to the meaning of the word faith, as Christ 
uses it. Not here, Te of small belief, limited 
creed, or even defective spirit of trust ; but Te 
of little spiritual perception. Compare for 
Scripture significance of faith 2 Cor. 4 : 18 and 
Hebrews 11 : 1. To this report of Christ's re- 
buke, Mark makes an important addition. See 



Mark 8 : 17, 18. He also gives the questions be- 
low respecting the two miracles more fully than 
Matthew. See Mark 8 : 19-21. Observe the fact 
indicated in the account there, that the disciples 
remembered definitely the two miracles, and the 
exact number of baskets of fragments left, but 
did not learn their spiritual lessons. A striking 
illustration of " having eyes, yet seeing not." 

9-10. Do ye not understand, neither re- 
member the five loaves of the five thou- 
sand, and how many traveling baskets 
(xuyiroc) ye took up? neither the seven 
loaves of the four thousand, and how 
many grain baskets (anvqlc) ye took up ? 
Observe that Christ distinctly refers to two mir- 
acles of feeding ; that he discriminates between 
them by his reference to the "five loaves of the 
five thousand" and the "seven loaves of the 
four thousand," and by referring to the different 
kinds of baskets used. This contrast corres- 
ponds exactly tO the tWO aCCOUntS (compare notes on 
Mark 8 : 1-10 and John G : 1-13), and to the 1'eCOlleCtiOn Of 

the apostles who (Mark 8 : 19-20) respond to Christ's 
question that in one ease they gathered up twelve 
traveling baskets, in the other seven grain bas- 
kets. It is impossible in the face of this testi- 
mony to believe that the account of both mira- 
cles is derived from the same event, if we attach 
any credence to the Evangelist's narratives. 





SPORTA. COPHINUS. 

(Grain Basket.) (Traveling Basket.) 

The two accompanying illustrations show the 
difference in kind between the baskets used on 
the two occasions. The Cophinus is taken from 
an engraved gem ; the Sporta from the statue of 
a young fisherman in the Royal Neapolitan Mu- 
seum. The Sporta was commonly used by the 
Romans as a provision basket ; the Cophinus was 
used by the Jews as a kind of traveling basket. 
The scholars are not agreed as to which was the 
larger ; perhaps there was no generic difference 
in size. 

1 1 . The best critics give, by a slight change in 



Oh. XVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



199 



13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea 
Ph lippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom? do men 
say that I, the Son of man, am ? - 



14 And they said,' Some say that thou art John the 
Baptist ; some, Elias ; and others, Jeremias, or one of 
the prophets. 



y Mark 8 : 27 ; Luke 9 : 18, etc. . . .2 ch. 14 : 2 ; Luke 9 : 7-9. 



reading and punctuation, a different rendering to 
this verse, which should read: "How is it 
that ye do not understand that I spake 
not to you concerning bread ? But be- 
ware of the leaven of the Pharisees and 
of the Sadducees." Christ does not explain ; 
but he chides their dullness, then repeats his 
warning, and leaves them to study out its meaning 
for themselves, which they do. 

12. But of the teaching of the Phari- 
sees and of the Sadducees. Not merely the 
doctrine, that is, the things taught, but the teach- 
ing, which includes the spirit and method. Luke, 
in his account of Christ's use of the same symbol 
on another occasion (Luke 12 : 1), gives Christ's own 
interpretation, "Beware ye of the leaven of the 
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.''' 1 

In considering the practical significance of this 
teaching, observe that (1) Christ rebukes his dis- 
ciples, not for a fragrant dereliction, but for a 
lack of spiritual perception ; (3) he teaches in 
enigma, and requires them to study out its mean- 
ing for themselves ; (3) their dullness to perceive 
the spiritual meaning of his teaching was akin to 
that of the Pharisees, for which he had just be- 
fore rebuked them (verses 1-4), and both spring 
from the same source, lack of spiritual life and 
consequently spiritual perception ; (4) false 
teaching and pernicious influences are ranked by 
our Lord together and compared to leaven, be- 
cause subtle, unobserved, and pervasive ; (5) the 
false doctrine of the Sadducees, the worldly 
6pirit of the Herodians, and the religious form- 
alism of the Pharisees are classed together ; (6) 
the disciples are warned to be on the watch 
against evil teaching in the very quarters where 
the nation looked and had a right to look for its 
religious, philosophical, and political leaders. 

Ch. 16 : 13-20. PETER'S CONFESSION OF CHRIST.— 
The false and the true conception op Jesus con- 
trasted : a prophet ; the Messiah. — The secret of 
all true spiritual knowledge : the teaching of 
the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2 : 10). — The secret of 
all stability in christian character: faith in 
a living and life-giving christ. this makes 
evert possessor a peter. — the foundation of the 
Christian church : living faith in a living Sav- 
iour. — How to make the church strong against 
the gates of hell : a revival of this living faith 
by receiving the spirit of god. — the power of 
the Christian in the Kingdom of God : power to 
bind and loose, i. «., to walk in the perfect law 
of Liberty. — Necessity of caution in preaching 
the truth: preach only what the people are 

TRULY PREPARED TO HEAR (John 16 : 12). 



This significant and solemn colloquy is re- 
corded by Mark (s : 27-30) and Luke (9 : 18-21), though 
less fully than here. Matthew alone gives the 
blessing of Christ pronounced on Peter in verses 
18 and 19. John, who wrote his Gospel to make 
clear his Lord's divinity (join 20 : 31), omits this in- 
cident altogether. The omission is an indication 
that he wrote with the other Gospels before him, 
and supplied only what they lacked. The time 
is correctly indicated in the course of the narra- 
tive here. It was after Christ had closed his 
public ministry in Galilee, and was seeking repose 
with his disciples for the purpose of imparting to 
them especial instruction in the principles of his 
kingdom. 

13. When Jesus came into the region of 
Caesarea of Philippi. There were two Csesa- 
reas in Palestine ; one on the coast, midway be- 
tween Joppa and Mount Carmel, the other north 
of Galilee at the head waters of the Jordan, about 
four miles east of Dan, the northernmost town 
of the Holy Land proper (see map). It was 
termed Ccesarea in honor of Augustus Caesar, the 
great patron of the Herodian family, to whom 
the great temple erected here by Herod was ded- 
icated, and Philippi, i. e. of Philip, to distinguish 
it from the other Csesarea and in honor of Herod 
Philip the tetrarch (Matt. 14 : 1, and note), who made 
it the site of his villas and palaces. It is probably 
to be identified historically with the Baal-gad 
under Mount Hermon, which marked the north- 
ern boundary of Joshua's conquest ( Joshua 11 : 17). 
Here, subsequently, was erected a sanctuary to 
the heathen god Pan, which gave to the town 
the new name of Paneas, which still lingers in the 
modern' appellation Banias. This sanctuary of 
Pan was constructed in a cave in the rock (Stan- 
ley's Sinai and Palestine, p. 390) ; Greek inscrip- 
tions on the face of the rock, testifying to the 
former existence of this sanctuary, still remain. 
Above this sanctuary, and on the cliff itself, 
Herod built the white marble temple in honor of 
Augustus. It is conjectured, not unreasonably, 
that Christ's colloquy with his disciples took 
place within sight of this temple ; that he referred 
indirectly to the temple thus founded on a rock, 
yet not to abide. Prom this same cliff burst 
forth, in rivulets, which just below unite in a 
single stream, the waters which constitute the 
higher source of the Jordan. 

Asked his disciples. Apparently the twelve 
only. "Whom do men. Luke says, the people 
(Greek u/Jloc), that is, the common people, the 
multitude, as distinguished from the Scribes and 



200 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVI. 



15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am ? 

16 And Simon Peter answered and said," Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God. 

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed 



art thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh" and blood hath 
not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in 
heaven. 
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter ; d 



a ch. 14 : 33 ; Pa. 2 : 7 ; John 1 : 49 ; Acta 9 : 20 ; Heb. 1 : 2, 5 b 1 Cor. 2 : 10 J Gal. 1:16; Epb. 2:8 c 1 John 4 : 15 ; 5 : 20 d John 1 : 42. 



the Pharisaic leaders. That the Son of man 

is. This is the reading of the best manuscripts. 
The Son of man in the N. T. always signifies the 
Messiah. According to one interpretation, and 
one which the reading I have given seems to sus- 
tain, the question would be, what sort of a per- 
son do the public think the expected Messiah to 
be. But our English version evidently represents 
the spirit of the question more accurately : What 
estimate do the public put upon me, the Mes- 
siah ? For (a) the question is thus reported by 
both Mark and Luke, where there is no doubt as 
to the reading, and (6) Christ's second question 
to his disciples, Whom say ye that I am ? shows 
that he inquires not merely into the commonly 
received doctrine respecting the Messiah, but 
into the public opinion, and into his disciples' 
opinion, respecting himself. Why does he ask 
this question ? To lead his disciples on to a con- 
fession of their own higher faith. If one is un- 
certain respecting the divine character of Jesus 
Christ, let him, as here, compare that with other 
hypotheses, and by a comparison reach the truth. 

14. They said, Some, John the Baptist. 
This was the opinion of Herod, who thought 
John whom he had beheaded was risen from the 
dead (Matt, u : 2). Others, Elijah. Malaehi 
(4 : 5) had prophesied that Elijah the prophet 
should come before the great and dreadful day 
of the Lord, a prophesy fulfilled by the advent 
of John the Baptist. See Matt. 11 : 14, and note. 
Some of the people thought Jesus fulfilled this 
prophecy, and looked forward to the coming of 
another Messiah. And others, Jeremiah, or 
one of the prophets, i. e. "that one of the 
old prophets is risen again " (Luke 9 : 19). Jeremiah 
is placed first, because in Jewish canon he was 
placed first among the O. T. prophets. 

16. And Simon Peter answered. His 
original name was Simon or Simeon. The appel- 
lation Peter was given him by our Lord, when he 
flr«t and but temporarily joined Jesus at the ford 
of Bethabara (John 1 : 40, 41). Chrysostom charac- 
terizes him as the " mouth of the apostles and 
the leader of the apostolic choir." But there is 
nothing to indicate here that he spoke for them ; 
rather impulsively and ardently, he gave instant 
expression to his own conviction. Observe his 
language ; not, I say that thou art, nor, We say 
that thou art, but Thou art. He expresses not 
an opinion, but an assured and certain fact. 
Thou art the Christ. That is, the Messiah, 
literally the Anointed. See note on the names of 
Jesus, p. 21. The Son of the living God. 



Mark says simply Thou art the Christ ; Luke, The 
Christ of God. The phrase living God was com- 
mon among the Jews, not merely to distinguish 

Jehovah from idols (joBh.3 : 10 ; Acts 14 : 15 ; 1 Thess. 1 : 9), 

but also to indicate his character as a personal 
Being, who enters into sympathetic relations 
with the soul of man, and by the warmth of his 
own life imparts to the needs of the human soul. 

(Psalm 42 : 2 ; 84 : 2 ; 2 Cor. 3 : 3 ; 1 Tim. 4 : lo). It is thus 

peculiarly appropriate as a designation of Christ, 
who is the highest manifestation of this personal, 
living, and life-giving character of our God. 

17. Happy art thou, Simon, son of 
Jonas. The meaning of Jonas is dove. Some 
of the commentators see in this an allegorical 
meaning — Simon, son of the Dove, that is, child 
of the Holy Spirit. Others think that it recalls 
his earthly origin in contrast with the spiritual 
blessing conferred upon him. I should rather 
regard it simply as an emphatic address, a6 in 
John 21 : 15-17, " Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou me." Such an employment of the double 
name is common with us in emphatic address. 
Why peculiarly happy ? A similar confession of 
faith had apparently been made before ; by the 
disciples when Jesus quelled the storm on the 
lake of Galilee (Matt. 14 : 33), and by Nathaniel on 
his first meeting with Christ (John 1:49). Christ 
himself answers the question. For flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
but my Father which is in Heaven. The 
previous expressions of faith were produced by 
wonder, and were founded on extraordinary dis- 
plays of power or knowledge, which are of them- 
selves very inadequate foundations on which to 
build such a faith. Peter's language here was the 
expression, in calmness, of a settled conviction, 
which was produced by a disclosure of the divine 
character of Christ to the spiritual apprehension 
of the disciples, by the direct influence of the 
Spirit of God. True spiritual blessedness con : 
sists not in a merely intellectual belief, but in the 
spiritual apprehension of Christ's divine charac- 
ter. Compare Matt. 11 : 27 ; 1 Cor. 2:5; Gal. 
1 : 15, 16. Flesh and blood was a phrase in com- 
mon use among the rabbis to designate man in 
contradistinction to God. Here, it is equivalent 
to anything human, i. e., Christ declares, No 
power or faculty of man, in yourself or others, 
has imparted this knowledge to you. Compare 

1 Cor. 15 : 50 ; Gal. 1 : 16 ; Ephes. 6 : 12 ; Heb. 

2 : 14. Observe the implication of a direct dis- 
closure of the truth by the Spirit of God to the 
soul. Observe, too, that, whilst modern theology 



Ch. XVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



201 



and e upon this rock I will build my church ; and the 
gates' of hell shall not prevails against it. 



iq And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 
of heaven : and whatsoever thou h shalt bind on earth, 



e Eph. 2 : 20 ; Rev. 21 : 14 f Ps. 9:13 g Isa. 54 : 17 ch. 18 : 18. 



attributes the work of revelation and inspiration 
to the Holy Spirit, it is here attributed to the 
Father ; one of the many indications that the 
N. T. makes no such clear philosophical distinc- 
tion between the three Persons of the Trinity as 
were later made. 

18. Thou art a rock and upon this rock. 
There is here a play upon the words which it is 
impossible to preserve fully in the English. The 
Greek word Peter signifies rock, though there is 
a difference in the form of the word as Christ 
uses it ; in the first clause of the sentence he em- 
ploys the masculine form (rtitoog, petros), in the 
latter clause the feminine form (nitQa, petra). 
Some scholars have drawn important doctrinal 
conclusions from this variation (see notes below) ; but 
the grounds for so doing are very slight. The 
ordinary form is feminine. In applying the word 
to a man, Jesus would naturally change it to the 
masculine form. 

I will build my church. The word (ixxi.ij- 
olu) here rendered church, means, etymologically, 
something called together; it stands in the Septua- 
gint or Greek version of the O. T. for the Great 
Congregation, or Jewish House of Parliament or 
Congress, a body half way between a represen- 
tative gathering and a mass meeting, probably 
sometimes one and sometimes the other. (Numb. 

14: 1-5, 10 j 27:18-23; I Kings8:l-5; 1 Chron. 13:1-8; Psalm 

22:22). "In the N. T. it most frequently oc- 
curs in the sense of an assemblage of Christians 
generally" (Kitto) ; and if it ever signifies 
a definite ecclesiastical organization, with officers 
and spiritual or ecclesiastical powers, this is a 
secondary meaning, and one which the Apostles 
could not have attached to it at this time, when 
no such organization existed. Here it is simply 
equivalent to my called, i. e. those called out of 
the world to represent visibly among men Christ's 
invisible kingdom ; in other words, his entire 
inorganic body of professed disciples. 

The gates of Hades shall not prevail 
against it. On the meaning of the word hell or 
Hades (here "«%), see note on Matt. 5 : 22. The 
phrase gates of Hades may be regarded as here 
equivalent to the forces of the kingdom of death 
sallying out from its gates, as from a fortified 
city, to attack the Kingdom of Christ, represent- 
ed in its Great Congregation ; or we may con- 
ceive the metaphor to be drawn from the attempt 
of an enemy to hold captives in a walled city, 
but without effect, the gates being unable to 
keep them in their captivity. Thus the gates of 
Gaza did not prevail against Samson (judges ie : 1-3). 
This appears to me to be the better interpreta- 



tion. Thus the metaphor involves a promise of 
immortality, both to the Christian and the 
Church. Death seems to capture and carry cap- 
tive the Christian, and so to destroy the Church ; 
but the gates of Hades are powerless to hold the 
captives, and through the death portal they that 
seem to be captured enter into the assembly and 
church of the first-born in heaven (Hebrews 12 : 22, 23). 
Of the fulfillment of this promise, historical illus- 
trations are afforded by the deliverance of Peter 
from death (Acts 12 : 1-11), by the resurrection of 
the Saints at the death of Christ (Matt. 27 : 52), but 
most of all by the resurrection of Jesus himself 
as a first-fruits (1 Cor. 15 : 20). 

The Foundation of Chbist's Church. 
This and the following verse have given rise to 
volumes of bitter controversy. I shall treat 
them separately, on account both of their diffi- 
culty and their importance. The principal inter- 
pretations of this verse are the following : 

I. Tlie ordinary Roman Catholic view ; that 
Christ declares his purpose to found a great ec- 
clesiastical organization ; that this organization 
was to be built upon Peter and his successors as 
its true foundation ; that they were to represent 
to all time the authority of God upon the earth, 
being clothed, by virtue of their office, with a 
continuous inspiration, and authorized by the 
word, and fitted by the indwelling Spirit of God, 
to guide, direct, illumine, and command the dis- 
ciples of Christ, with the same force and effect 
as Christ himself. This view is untenable for the 
following reasons : (a.) Christ does not, as we 
have seen, refer to a definite ecclesiastical organ- 
ization by the word church {ixxi.i]ola), and would 
not be so understood by his disciples. (6. ) Peter 
was not by nature rock-like ; he was, on the con- 
tary, characteristically impulsive and unstable. 
(See note on Simon Peter, pp. 109, 110. ) There 
must be, therefore, some other significance in the 
words, Thou art a rock, which the Romish inter- 
pretation loses, (c.) Neither he nor the other 
disciples understood that Christ invested him 
with any such authority and position. He did 
not occupy any such place in the church while 
he lived. In the first council at Jerusalem (Acts 
15 : 7-11) he was simply an adviser, the office of 
chief, or President, being apparently held by 
James ; Paul withstood Peter to his face as no 
disciple ever withstood Christ, or would have 
withstood his acknowledged representative (<w. 
2:11-14); and throughout the N. T. the apostles 
are all treated as co-equals (Matt, is : 1 ; 19 : 28 ; 23 : 8 ; 
John 15 : i-5j Rev. 21 : 14). (d.) There is neither here 
nor anywhere else in the N. T. any hint of the 



202 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XVI. 



appointment of a successor to Peter, or of any 
authority in him to appoint a successor, or of any 
such authority vested in any of the apostles, or 
exercised or assumed to be exercised by any of 
them, (e.) The N. T. throughout, and the O.' T. 
in all its prophecies, recognizes Christ as the chief 
corner-stone, the foundation on which the King- 
dom of God can alone be built (1 Cor. 3 : 11 ; Ephes. 
2: 20). (/.) Mark and Luke omit from their ac- 
count this utterance of Christ ; if it really desig- 
nated Peter as the foundation of the visible 
church, and was thus essential and not incidental 
to the right understanding of the whole incident, 
it would not be omitted from their accouuts. 

II. Various Protestant views. Of these the chief 
are the following : 1. That the church was built 
upon Peter, because he was the first to make it 
known, as to the Jews on the day of Pentecost 
(Acts 2 : 14-26) and subsequently to the Gentiles (Acts, 
ch. 10). But this view is untenable because (a) the 
words are too solemnly spoken, and too significant, 
to be reduced to a mere promise of personal prior- 
ity in time in preaching the Gospel ; (6) according 
to this view Peter was a builder of the church, not 
its foundation ; and (c) even as a builder he was 
less a founder than Paul, or perhaps even John 
and James. 2. That Christ does not refer to 
Peter, but to his declaration, Thou art the Christ, 
the Son of the living God, i, e. he declares the 
rock on which he wOl build his church is not 
Peter, but the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus 
Christ, to which Peter has given expression. But 
this is untenable because (a) it ignores Christ's 
play upon the words Petros (nit 00 c), Peter, andpetra 
(nkzqu), rock ; (6) the church is not represented 
in the N. T. as built upon any doctrine, but upon 
living souls (see Scripture references below, III, 6); 
(c) in fact churches which have retained this doc- 
trine in their creed, the Roman Catholic for ex- 
ample, have become corrupted and Christless in 
their life. 3. That Christ refers to himself, as 
in the prophecy of John 2 : 19, "Destroy this 
Temple, and in three days I will build it up." 
Those who hold this view assert that the Rock 
is throughout the Bible a symbol of God or of 

Christ (Deut. 32 : 4, 31 ; 1 Sam. 2:2; Psalm 02 : 15 ; Isaiah 26 : 4, 

marg. ; 44 : 8, marg. ; l Cor. io : 4) ; that the change in the 
Greek from the masculine form Petros (iieiQog), 
Peter, to the feminine petra (nstnu), rock, indi- 
cates a change in meaning, which Christ may 
have further interpreted by pointing to himself ; 
that the form of his language indicates such a 
change, since he does not say "upon Wee," but 
"upon this rock." Thus they regard Christ's 
language as equivalent to, Thou art a piece of 
rock, and upon the Rock Christ Jesus, from 
which thou dost derive thy rock-like character, 
I will build my church. I regard this view un- 
tenable because (a) it fails fairly to interpret the 
play upon the words Peter (nitQoc, petros) and 



rock (nstoa, petra) ; (6) it contravenes the spirit 
of the figure, in which Christ, by the words, I 
will build my church, represents himself as the 
builder, not as the foundation ; (c) it fails to har- 
monize with the context, in which Christ promises 
to give to Peter, because of his faith and his place 
in the church, the keys of the kingdom of heaven. 
(d.) A careful examination of other passages 
will indicate that Christ is represented as the Rock 
on which the church is to be built, only in so far 
as he is embodied in the life and the faith of his 
disciples. 

III. The view tohich I believe to be the correct one 
is as follows : That which makes Simon to be in 
truth a Peter (a rock) is his vital faith in Jesus 
as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Every 
one who possesses a like faith is, according to 
the measure of his faith, a Peter, that is, a rock, 
and Christ builds his church on this rock, that 
is, on this living experience of faith in the Christ, 
the Son of the living God, inspired in the hearts 
of men by the Spirit of God. If this living faith 
be wanting, neither a whole college of apostles 
and their successors, nor the most orthodox 
creed, nor the most unquestioning belief in the 
divinity of the historic Christ, can sustain the 
church. Christ's words, then, as I understand 
them, might be paraphrased thus : Now, taught 
the fundamental truth of the Christian sys- 
tem, not by flesh and blood, but by my Father 
vihich is in heaven, thy nature is changed, thy 
native instability is taken away, and henceforth 
thou art Peter, a rock; and upon this rock, this 
character thus divinely transformed by the re- 
newing of the Spirit (Rom. 12 : 2) and made strong 
by a vital faith in the Son of the living God, / 
will build my church, the assembly of my disciples, 
whose faith is to stand, not in the wisdom of 
men, but in the power of God. This living faith 
in Christ, not an ecclesiastical order, nor a cor- 
rect creed, nor natural strength of character, 
shall be the basis of my church, which shall be 
built out of living men, and upon their living 
faith in me, as their Messiah and the Messiah of 

the WOrld. (Compare 1 Cor. 1:27-31; 2:5; 1 Thess. 1:5; 

i Pet. 2 : 6.) This view I believe to be the correct 
one, because (a) it accords with the character of 
Peter, who was not stable by nature, but derived 
all his true strength from a vital faith in Jesus 
Christ ; (6) it accords with other passages of 
Scripture, which represent the church as built of 
living hearts, and upon Christ as embodied in the 

faith and life Of his disciples (Ephes. 2 : 2O-22 ; Gal. 2:9; 

1 Pet. 2:4-6; Rev. 21 • 14) ; (c) it accords with the sub- 
sequent historical fulfillment of this promise, 
which has proved that the church is strong and 
stable, just in the proportion in which its mem- 
bers possess a vital faith in Jesus Christ, and are 
made Peters (rocks) by this their divinely begot- 
ten faith in their Head ; (d) it embodies whatever 



Ch. XVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



203 



shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt 
loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. 



20 Then' charged he his disciples, that they should 
tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 



i Mark 8 : CO. 



of truth there is in the other interpretations ; the 
superficial truth in the Roman Catholic view, 
which seizes the letter, but ignores the spirit ; 
and the deeper truth of the more common Prot- 
estant view, which perceives correctly that the 
doctrine of Christ is the foundation of Christi- 
anity as a system of doctrines, and Christ is the 
foundation of his church as a living organism, 
but which has failed to recognize the significance 
of the letter, and so has failed to get Christ's 
full meaning; (c) it is incidently confirmed by 
Peter's words in 1 Pet. 2 : 4-0, which indicate his 
understanding of Christ's teaching here, and 
which certainly point not to himself, but to a 
vital faith in Christ as the foundation of the 
Christian Church. In Lange on Matthew, Dr. 
Schaff's notes, the reader will find a statement 
of the views of the different commentators. He 
will be interested to observe that the fathers, 
Augustine, Jerome, Chrysostom, and others, 
make either Christ or Peter's confession of a 
faith in Christ, the rock, not Peter himself ; and 
that the last of the three views I have given 
above is substantially sustained, by Calvin and 
by the best modern scholars. Among them 
may be mentioned Lange, Schaff, Olshausen, De 
Wette, Meyer, Stier, and Brown. 

If this interpretation be correct, the passage 
teaches — (1.) That the only condition of member- 
ship in the visible church which Jesus Christ 
recognized is vital faith in himself, wrought by 
the indwelling Spirit of God, neither moral life 
nor doctrinal belief being adequate without ; for 
of those who possess this faith he declares he 
will construct his Great Congregation, his visible 
church. (2.) The condition of true power in the 
church is always vital faith in Jesus Christ, in 
the hearts of its members, without which neither 
ecclesiastical order nor doctrinal accuracy is of 
any efficacy. The first step, therefore, toward a 
revival of power in the church, is always the re- 
vival of this living faith in the hearts of both 
minister and people, by seeking and receiving in 
docility the teaching of the Spirit of God. 

19. And I will give unto thee the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven, etc. In consid- 
ering the meaning of this confessedly enigmatical 
and hotly contested passage, the candid student 
must bear in mind two canons of criticism : first, 
in interpreting Bible metaphors, we must ascer- 
tain how the hearers would have understood the 
metaphorical language ; second, any principle 
which we find stated in the Bible in enigmatical 
or ambiguous language, we may generally ex- 
pect to find stated elsewhere in the Bible in sim- 



pler and more perspicuous language. For essen- 
tial truths do not depend upon isolated passages, 
still less upon such as are confessedly difficult of 
interpretation. Applying the first principle, the 
following facts must be noted : (1.) This verse is 
not a gift, but a promise of a gift : J will give. 



ANCIENT KEY. 

(2.) The key, in the East, was a symbol of author- 
ity, was made long, with a crook at one end, so 
that it could be worn round the neck as a badge 
of office. To this use of the key reference is had 
in the phrase, "The government shall be upon 
his shoulder" (isaiah9:6), and in the promise to 
Eliakim, "The key of the house of David I will 
lay upon his shoulder" (isaiah 22: 22). (3.) The 
phrase "kingdom of heaven" in the Gospels 
never means the visible, external, organic church, 
and rarely, if ever, the future state in contrast 
with the present, but the reign of God in the 
individual soul, or in the community, (see note on 
Matt. 3 : 2.) The " keys of the kingdom of heaven" 
do not, then, symbolize power to admit or ex- 
clude from the earthly church, or from heaven, 
but power in the life of allegiance to God, i. e. in 
the Christian life. (4.) The word bind (dim) is 
never used in the N. T. as a metaphor for con- 
demnation, or fastening guilt upon the soul, but 
is used metaphorically for binding the individual 
by laws, as in Rom. 7:3; 1 Cor. 7 : 27, 39 ; and 
the word loose (ivw) is never used as a symbol for 
pardon or deliverance from sin, but always, 
either literally of unbinding or dissolving, as in 
Mark 1 : 7 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 10, 11, 12, or metaphorically 
of the relaxing or dissolving of a law, as in Matt. 
5 : 19 (where, see note) ; John 5 : 18 ; 7 : 23 ; 10 : 35 ; 
1 Cor. 7 : 27. The words " bind " and " too.se " had 
also this well established significance among the 
Jewish rabbis, being nearly equivalent to "pro- 
hibit" and "permit." Lightfoot gives a number 
of illustrations; one will here suffice. "They 
do not send letters by the hand of a heathen 
on the Sabbath, no, nor on the fifth day of the 
week. Tea, the school of Shammai binds it (pro- 
hibits it) even on the fourth day of the week ; 
but the school of Hillel looseth it (permits it)." (5.) 
The declaration of Christ is not whomsoever thou 
shall bind and loose, but whatsoever (u £ <i) thou 
shall bind and loose. Applying these facts, this 
verse will read thus : I will give thee authority 



204 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVI. 



(the keys) in the Christian life (the kingdom of 
heaven) ; and whatsoever thou shalt prohibit thy- 
self (bind) on earth shall be prohibited (bound) 
in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt permit thy- 
self (loose) on earth shall be permitted (loosed) 
in heaven. 

Two questions remain to be asked and answered : 
First, On whom is this gift bestowed ? Certainly 
not on Peter and his successors in office, for 
neither here nor anywhere else in the N. T. is 
there any hint that he had either office or suc- 
cessors. In Matt. 18 : 18 it is conferred certainly 
on all the twelve ; and since it is there coupled 
with instructions concerning forgiveness, and a 
promise concerning prayer, which are of univer- 
sal application, it may safely be regarded as not 
confined to them, but bestowed on all who pos- 
sess that divinely inspired faith in Christ the Son 
of the living God, which (see note on preceding 
verse) made Simon, son of Jona, a Peter, a 
rock. Second, Are there any parallel passages 
to this promise, as thus interpreted? Confessedly 
there are none which sustain the papal interpre- 
tation. The supposed power of the pope to admit 
to and shut out from heaven rests solely on this 
one verse, though John 20 : 23 (see note there) is 
cited in support of his power to remit or retain 
sin. On the other hand, the right of the indivi- 
dual Christian to rely daily upon the personal 
help of a living Saviour, and to be governed in his 
life, not by laws and rules and regulations, but 
by the in-dwelling Spirit of God, illuminating 
and inspiring his conscience, is abundantly con- 
firmed by other passages of Scripture. See for 
example John 8 : 32, 36 ; Rom. 7 : 6 ; 2 Cor. 3 : 17 ; 
5 : 7; Gal. 3 : 25 ; 4 : 7, 31 ; 5 : 1, 16, 18 ; Col. 2 : 
14-16, 20-22. It may be objected that this inter- 
pretation amounts to a repeal of all law, and a 
declaration of personal infallibility in every Chris- 
tian. To which I reply that the lauguage is not 
more absolute in terms than is that of such prom- 
ises as, " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in 
my name he will give it you," which, by common 
consent, we limit by other declaration's of Scrip- 
ture, common sense, and by our own experience. 
Fairly interpreted, the promise of the keys gives 
not license to the individual to be without law, 
but it gives him liberty and power in his Christian 
life to follow the guidance of the Spirit of God, 
not sure that he will make no mistakes, but sure 
that there is no condemnation for them that " walk 
after the Spirit " (Rom. 8: i). 

I understand, then, the promise of the keys to be 
made to Peter as the possessor of a living faith in 
Jesus as the divine Messiah, and through him to all 
who, by a like faith, are endued with a like strength 
of character, not natural but God-given, and I 
would paraphrase it thus : To my disciples I will 
give authority in their spiritual life, so that they 
shall no longer be bound by rules and regulations like 



those of the Pharisees or of the Mosaic code, but 
vihatsoever, under the inspiration of a living faith 
in me, they shall prohibit themselves, God will pro- 
hibit, and whatsoever, under that inspiration, they 
shall permit themselves, God will permit ; for they 
shall have the mind of the Spirit. If I have read this 
passage aright, it is the spiritual Magna Charta of 
the disciples of Christ, and its conversion into an 
engine of ecclesiastical oppression must be ac- 
counted one of the most notable among the many 
perversions of Scripture. 

The other principal interpretations of this verse 
may be classified as follows : 1. The papal; that 
the power of the keys was given to Peter and his 
successors in office, and confers upon the pope, 
and through him upon the bishops and other 
clergy deriving their power from him, authority 
to admit to or shut out from the kingdom of 
heaven. 2. The ecclesiastical ; that this power is 
given to Peter and the twelve, and to their suc- 
cessors in office, the clergy of the Christian church, 
and that it confers upon the Christian ministry, 
or upon the Christian church through the minis- 
try, the power of the keys, whatever that may 
be, some regarding it as simply a power of teach- 
ing, and by teaching opening the kingdom of 
heaven (Luke n : 55), some the power of discipline, 
of opening and shutting the door of the visible 
church on earth, some of true admittance and 
exclusion from the heavenly kingdom, given to 
the apostles but retained by the modern ministry, 
" only conditionally, viz., on the supposition of 
true repentance and living faith, which the clergy 
cannot perfectly discern, since the gift of trying 
the spirits has ceased." — {Olshausen.) 3. Thehis- 
torical ; that it was given only to Peter and his 
co-disciples, that it conferred on them the power 
of opening the doors of the kingdom by their 
preaching, or of binding and relaxing the Jewish 
laws by their inspired decisions, or of retaining 
and remitting sin ; and the following passages are 
cited among others in illustration of its exercise. 
Acts 2 : 38-41 ; 3 : 1-8 ; 5 : 1-10 ; 8 : 21 ; 10 : 44-48. 

20. That they should tell no man. Both 
because they were themselves not yet fully in- 
structed, and because the people were not pre- 
pared to hear and receive the truth. The Mes- 
siahship of Jesus was perfected by his death and 
resurrection, and on the fact of the resurrection 
the apostles, Peter pre-eminently, based their sub- 
sequent public proclamation that Jesus was the 

Christ. (Acts 2 : 32-36.) 

16 : 21-28. CHRIST'S TEACHING CONCERNING SELF- 
SACRIFICE.— "Fbom that time fobth:" Christ 
adapts his teaching to the paith of his heaber8 ; 
after their declaration of his divinity comes his 
prophecy of his suffering.— the impetuosity of 
love may lead into sin.— the transition from the 
fullness of faith to worldliness illustrated by 
Peter. — The same disciple is at one moment a bock. 



Oh. XVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



205 



21 From' that time forth began Jesus to shew unto 
his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and 
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and 
scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, 
saying, Be it far from thee, Lord : this shall not be unto 
thee. 



23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee be- 
hind me, Satan ;" thou art an offence unto me ;' for 
thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those 
that be of men. 

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any™ man 
will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up 
his cross, and follow me. 



j Luke 9 : 22; 18 : 31 ; 24 : 6, 7 ; 1 Cor. 15:3, 4.... k 2 Sum. 13 : 2? I Rom. 14: 

Acu 14 : 22: 1 Thess. 3 : 3 



13 m eh. 10 : 38; Mark 8 : 34 : Luke 9 : 23 ; 14 : 27 ; 



at the next, a stone of stumbling.— the cause 
of spiritual apostacy : " t/hou regarde9t not the 
things that be of god, but those that be of men." 
— Christ our model of resistance to evil : instant, 
earnest, resolute.— Cross taking and cross bear- 
ing ARE THE CONDITIONS OF FOLLOWING CHRIST.— THE 
NATURE OF TRUE CHRISTIAN SELF-DENIAL.— Two IM- 
PORTANT questions: What profit in bartering 
ONE'S LIFE FOR THE THINGS THAT SHOULD MINISTER TO 
IT ? HOW CAN A LOST LIFE BE RECLAIMED ? — THE CER- 
TAINTY OF COMING JUDGMENT A WARNING TO THE IM- 
PENITENT, AN INSPIRATION TO THE CHRISTIAN.— OUR 
PRIVILEGE : WE SEE THE GLORY OF THE SON OF GOD IN 

His kingdom. — Compare Luke 10 : 24. 

Given by Mark (s ■. 31-38 ; 9 : and Luke (9 : 22-27). 
But the latter says nothing of Peter's rebuke and 
Christ's reply. 

21. From that time forth began Jesus 
to shew. This is the first clear prophecy, by 
Christ, of his crucifixion, though it was intimated 
in his sermon at Capernaum on the True Bread 
(John, ch. 6). But the disciples could not receive the 
doctrine of his death, and did not until history 

Confirmed it. (See Mark 9 : 32; Luko 9: 45; 18 : 34). Ob- 
Serve the regular development in his teaching. 
First, he simply proclaims "The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand " (Matt. 4 : 17) ; then he explains 
the principles and laws of that kingdom in the 
Sermon on the Mount ; then in the parables by 
the sea (Matt. ch. 13), he sets forth in figures the 
nature of its progress and the obstacles it will en- 
counter ; but not until, by no direct word of his, 
but by gradual acquaintance with him, the disci- 
ples have come to the full faith that he is the Mes- 
siah, the Son of God, does he begin to foretell to 
them his cross. He must go. Not because he 
could not escape, but because it was the way or- 
dained for the fulfilment of his work. Luke 24 : 
26 ; Acts 3 : 18. 

Elders, Chief Priests, and Scribes. The 
elders were leaders in the Jewish nation. Their 
office dates from the patriarchal era. Their age 
gave them their authority as counsellors and lead- 
ers ; hence their name. So the modern term Shiek 
means old man, and the shiek's age is the ground 
of his authority. These elders exercised certain 
not very well defined political functions ; were 
organized by Moses into a body, somewhat re- 
sembling OUr Senate (Numb, ll : 16, 17 ; compare Josh. 9 : 

I8-21 ; jer. 26 : 10-16) ; but existed as a recognized 
class of men before his time (Eiod. 3 : 16 ; 4 ; 29) 
From among them were chosen the governors of 



districts (Deut. 31 : 28) and local magistrates (Deut. 19 : 

12 ; 21 : 3 ; 22 : 15 ; Ruth 4 : 9, 11 ; 1 Kinjs 21 : 8). From them 

were selected certain representatives of the lay 
element in the Sanhedrim, the supreme court of 
the Jewish nation in the time of Christ. The 
chief priests were the heads of the priestly 
courses ; the scribes were the Jewish rabbis, the 
writers and teachers of the law. Christ's lan- 
guage here represents the Sanhedrim, which was 
composed of these three classes, laymen, priests, 
and teachers (see note on Matt. 2 : 4), and constituted 
the tribunal before which he was tried, and by 
which he was condemned to death (Matt. 26 : 57, 59). 

22. Then Peter took him. Apparently 
one side. For Mark says Christ spoke that 
saying openly, as though to contrast with the 
conference between Christ and Peter which 
followed ; and adds that after Peter's rebuke 
Christ turned about and looked on his disci- 
ples. Luther translates, Peter took him to him- 
self. — Rebuked him. The Greek (Imtiuuio) 
signifies literally, to adjudge, hence to find fault 
with. Peter's impulse was founded on a love for 
Christ which could not bear the thought of his 
rejection and crucifixion. But it was the disci- 
ple's duty to listen to, not to instruct the 
Master. 

Be it far from thee. Literally, Mercy on 
thee ! that is, God be merciful to thee, God forgive 
thee, for this speech. It was an exclamation of 
strong dissent, seemingly of impatient dissent. 
Compare for its significance 1 Chron. 11 : 19, 
where in the Septuagint or Greek version the 
language is the same, and would be literally 
rendered, "God forgive me the doing of this 
thing." This shall not be to thee. Peter 
assumed that he "knew better and could ensure 
his Divine Master against such an event. It is 
this spirit of confident rejection of God's re- 
vealed purposes which the Lord so sharply re- 
bukes."— (Alford.) It is the same spirit which 
made the cross of Christ a stumbling-block to 
the Jews and to the Greeks foolishness (1 Cor. 1 . 
23), and which leads modern philosophy to reject 
the N. T. doctrine of a suffering God ; and the 
cause of this rejection is always the same, 
namely, regarding "not the things that be of 
God, but those that be of men." 

23. But he turned, i. e. away from Peter 
and back to the disciples. Compare Mark 8 : 33. 
—Get thee behind me, Satan. On which 



206 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVI. 



25 For" whosoever will save his life shall lose it : 
and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find 
it. 



26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the 
whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall 
a man give in exchange for his soul ? 



n John 12 : 25 ; Es. 4 : 14 Ps. 40 : 7, 8. 



Gavazzi says that the church which is founded on 
Peter as its rock is a Satanic church. The word 
Satan signifies adversary. Peter was the adver- 
sary of Christ in that he employed his friendship, 
not to strengthen him for the day of trial, hut to 
dissuade him from it. He unconsciously repeated 
the temptation presented by the devil in the wil- 
derness. Observe here Christ's illustration of 
the spirit of his teaching to the disciples, in ch. 
10 : 36, 37. Observe, too, that our best friend 
becomes our worst enemy when he employs his 
friendship to tempt us to evil, and notice the 
spirit in which Christ resists the solicitations of 
such friendship. — An offenco unto me. The 
original word (axuvdalov) here employed, is liter- 
ally a trap stick, i. e. a bent stick on which the bait 
is fastened, and against which the animal strikes 
and springs the trap. Hence it is used in the 
N. T. as a metaphor to designate anything which 
tends to lead one into moral or spiritual ruin. 
See note on ch. 5 : 29. To Christ Peter is such 
a trap-stick, who would be, if Christ yielded 
to him, a baited lure to trap him into sin. Con- 
trast Peter's quiet acceptance of this rebuke with 
the resistance and anger of Judas Iscariot in John 
13 : 47, with Luke 33 : 3, 4. Compare the spirit 
of John and James when rebuked by our Lord. 
Luke 9 : 54^56. See Prov. 27 : 0. 

Thou art regarding not the things of 
God, but those of men. Contrast with verse 
17 above. In accepting Christ, despite his ap- 
parent lowly origin and his really humble career, 
Peter showed his appreciation of spiritual things ; 
in rejecting the idea of a suffering Messiah he 
showed that he still retained the earthly idea of 
greatness, as power, rather than the divine idea 

Of greatness, as love. (See Exod. 33 : 18, 19 ; Psalm 103 : 8, 

marg.). The original word rendered savour- 
est (yaoviui) expresses the action of the mind, 
heart and will ; it is more than thinking, since 
that involves only the idea of intellectual activ- 
ity. Its significance will be indicated to the Eng- 
lish reader by comparing the use of the same 
verb in Rom. 8 : 5, Do mind the things of the 
flesh ; Rom. 13 : 10, Mind not high things ; Phil. 
3 : 5, Let this mind be in you which was also in 
Christ Jesus. 

24. Then said Jesus unto his disciples. 
Also publicly and to the multitude (Mark 8 : 34). 
The rebuke was private, the teaching public — a 
lesson to the ministry. Preaching should be 
practical, but not personal. — If any man wills 
to come after me. That is, will make this his 
purpose. — Let him renounce himself. The 



Greek verb here (anaQrio^iui) rendered deny, is 
used in describing Peter's denial of his Lord 
(Matt. 2G : 34, 35). The Latin translation is abnego, 
from which comes our verb abnegate. He must 
renounce self as his master, and accept Christ as 
his master. Christian self-denial consists, not in 
self-inflicted suffering, nor in sacrificing partic- 
ular interests, but in disowning self-interest as the 
motive of life and substituting therefor the will of 
God and the welfare of men. — And take up 
his cross. Luke adds daily (Luke o : 23). Observe, 
7ds own cross, not some other man's. Compare 
Heb. 12 : 1, Let us run with patience the race 
that is set before tis. Observe too, on the one 
hand, that the Christian is not merely to bear the 
inevitable cross laid upon him, but to take up the 
cross voluntarily ; and on the other, that Chris- 
tian cross-bearing consists not in assuming pen- 
ances and inventing self-sacrifices (col. 2 : 23), but 
in disowning allegiance to one's self and substitu- 
ting therefor allegiance to God, thus following 

Christ's example (John 5 : SO ; 6 : 38. Compare Gal. 2 : 20 ; 

Col. 3 : 3). The self to be disowned is interpreted 
by Rom. 8 : 13. The connection between this 
and the preceding verse is clear : Not only 
must you accept the doctrine of a suffering Mes- 
siah, if you are to be my disciple you must pos- 
sess my spirit of willing self-sacrifice for love's 
sake. 

25. Whosoever is determined to sa\ r e 
his life shall lose it 5 but whosoever is 
willing to lose his life for my sake shall 
find it. In the original Greek there is a differ- 
ence between the first and second clause of this 
verse which the English version does not pre- 
serve, but which the above translation may indi- 
cate to the English reader. On the spiritual 
significance of this aphorism see note on Matt. 
10 : 39. 

20. For what shall it profit a man if 
he shall acquire the whole world and 
lose his own life ; or what shall a man 
give as a ransom for his life ; i. e. if it is 
lost. The word {'Pv/n) here rendered soul, is the 
same translated life in the preceding verse, and 
should be so rendered here. The contrast is not 
between gaining this world and losing the next ; 
nor exactly between acquiring material and sac- 
rificing spiritual interests ; but between gaining 
that which is external to one's self and losing one's 
own character and life in the process. Luke 
gives it more clearly, For what is a man advantaged 
if he gain the whole world and lose himself, or be cast 
away. This bargain is made by every man who 



Oh. XVII.] 



MATTHEW. 



207 



27 ForP the Son of man shall come in the glory of his 
Father, with his angels, andi then he shall reward every 
man according to his works. 

28 Verily I say unto you, There r be some standing 
nere, which shall not taste 9 of death, till they see the 
Son of man coming in his kingdom. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

AND after' six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and 
John his brother, and bringeth them up into an 
high mountain apart, 
2 And was transfigured before them : and his face 



p Dan. 7 : 9, 10 ; Zech. 14 : 5 ; Jude 14 q Rev. 22 : 12 r Mark 9:1 s Heb. 2:9 t Mark 9 : 2, etc. ; Xuke 9 : 28, etc. 



barters physical health for luxuries he cannot 
enjoy, or intellectual culture for means to pur- 
chase books and pictures which he cannot appre- 
ciate, or affection for money to buy everything for 
wife and children but love, or worst bargain of all, 
spiritual life for earthly prosperity. Compare 
Luke 12 : 16-21 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 9-12, andEccles., espe- 
cially chaps. 1 and 2. The second clause of the 
verse is not, as it appears to be in our version, 
a repetition of the first clause ; it enforces the 
argument by a consideration of the irreparable 
loss when the life of the soul is lost. When a 
man's life has been spent, what can he give as a 
ransom or price to get its return? is Christ's 
question. See Psalm 49 : 7. All other loss can 
be repaired ; a lost life can never be regained. 

27. The connection is this : The self-denial of 
the present is but temporary, and works out a 
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 
(2 Cor. 4 : it). The reference in this verse is cer- 
tainly not to the transfiguration which follows, 
nor to the destruction of Jerusalem, nor to the 
spiritual coming at Pentecost, for neither of 
these were the coming of Christ with his angels, 
nor in the glory of his Father. These phrases 
point distinctly to the last judgment. Not less 
do the words which Mark here adds, "Whoso- 
ever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of 
my words, in this adulterous and sinful genera- 
tion, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed 
when he cometh in the glory of his Father with 
his angels" (Mark 8 : 38). — According to his 
works. Greek (nQu'iig) praxis, from which comes 
our word practical. It is here rather working than 
worlts. The character is judged, but by the con- 
duct. For illustration of this declaration see 
Matt. 7 : 21 ; 25 : 31-46 ; Rev. 21 : 8. And observe 
that men are never represented in the N. T. as 
judged at the last day according to their opinions, 
but according to their lives. 

28. The transition between this and the pre- 
ceding verse is more noticeable in both Mark and 
Luke than here. Compare the phraseology there. 
There is a contrast between the coming, referred 
to in v. 27, in the glory of the Father, wheD Christ 
will become subject to the Father (i Cor. 15 : 28), and 
the coming in his own kingdom, referred to in v.28. 
That the reference in this latter verse is not to the 
final judgment is evident (a) because Christ did 
not know when that event would take place (Mark 
13 : 32) ; and (6) because he seems to imply that 
those who saw it should taste death after that 



coming. The reference is to the spiritual coming 
to establish his kingdom in the power of the Holy 
Ghost at the day of Pentecost. See this position 
fully stated in note on chapter 10 : 23, where the 
different interpretations are given. 



Ch. 17 : 1-9. THE TRANSFIGURATION.— The divine 
testimony to tite divine nature of jesus christ. 
— The reality and character op the Spirit world. 
— The transient and the permanent in Christian 
experience.— See thoughts below. 

The account of this event is given also by Mark 
(9 -. 2-8 ) and Luke (9 : ?8--)g). It is referred to dis- 
tinctly and directly by Peter (2 Peter 1 : lo-is) and 
perhaps by John (John 1 : 14). The place is uncer- 
tain. Not Mount Tabor, the legendary site, for 
a fortified town occupied its top. Probably not 
Mount Hermon, which has been suggested, for 
the scene at the foot of the mountain the follow- 
ing day indicates that Christ and the twelve were 
in a Jewish, not a heathen neighborhood, (see 

verse 17, and the reference to the Scribes in Mark 9 : 14). The 

most probable supposition assigns as the site of 
the transfiguration, one of the hills environing 
the Sea of Galilee. TJie time : after Christ's Gal- 
ilean ministry had come to an end. He had pro- 
nounced the woes against the cities by the sea 
(Matt, n : 20-24), had withdrawn with his disciples 
to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and thence to 
Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 15 : 21 ; is : 13), had received 
from them their recognition of his divine charac- 
ter and mission, and had foretold to them his ap- 
proaching death (Matt. 16 : 14-23). Then, to strength- 
en their faith, he gives them a glimpse of his glo- 
ry. Observe that this is not afforded to the mul- 
titude, nor even to all the twelve, nor even to the 
three most intimate disciples until after their 
faith in him has been established and declared. 
For he will not have their faith rest on external 
evidence ; though he will by it support and 
strengthen them. So our clearest experiences of 
Christ's spiritual glory come, not in our first ac- 
quaintance with him, but after living with him 
as our Saviour. The hour : the night. For he 
had gone up into the mountain to pray (Luke 9 : 28) 
as he was accustomed to do by night (Matt. 14 : 23, 24 ; 
Luke e : 12; 21: 37; 22: 39) ; the apostles were heavy 
with sleep (Luke 9 : 32), and did not descend until 
the next day (Luke 9 : 37). Moreover, the transfig- 
uration, especially as Luke describes it, would 
hardly have been recognizable, certainly not so 
marked, by day. 



208 



did shine as the sun," 1 and his raiment was white as the 
light. 

3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and 
Ellas, talking with him. 



MATTHEW. [Ch. XVII. 

4, Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, 
it is good for us to be here : if thou wilt, let us make 
here three tabernacles ; one for thee, and one for 
Moses, and one for Elias. 



1. After six days. That is, subsequent to 
the prophecies of Christ's death recorded in the 
previous chapter. All the evangelists give this 
note of time. Luke says, about an eight days: 
possibly he includes both the last day of the pre- 
ceding conversation, and the day of the transfig- 
uration ; or his language about (aWi) may be 
taken to indicate that he is not and does not 
claim to be definite. — Peter, James, and 
John his brother. They were Christ's only 
companions in Gethsemane (Mark 14 : 32-42), and 
there, as here, they were heavy with sleep. They 
alone witnessed the resurrection of Jairus' daugh- 
ter (Mark 5 : 37 ; Luke 8 : 5l). Why was this privilege 

accorded to them above the others ? We can 
only answer, because it seemed good in their 

Lord's Sight. (Compare John 21 : 22 j Rom. 9 : ll). All 

Christ's disciples do not now share the same ex- 
perience of his glory. — High mountain. The 

site is wholly unknown. See above. He went 
up to pray and as he prayed was transfigured (Luke 
9 : 28). So at his baptism the heavens opened and 
the dove descended, as he was praying (Luke 3 : 21 ; 

compare Acts 7 : 55, 56 ; Rev. 1 : lo). 

2. And was transfigured before them. 

The nature of the transfiguration is indicated by 
the description which follows, and yet more de- 
finitely by the accounts of Mark and Luke. His 
face shone as the sun ; his garments became 
white " as the light " (Matt.), i. e. luminously white, 
"as no fuller on earth can white them " (Mark), i. e. 
with a supernatural whiteness; " white and glis- 
tering" (Luke), i.e. flashing. The same Greek 
word (l^aatQ'i7tt<a) in Luke rendered glistering, is 
used in Nahum 3 : 3 to describe spears glittering 
in the sun, and in Ezek. 1 : 7 to describe the 
brightness of the living creatures who " sparkled 
like the colour of burnished brass." The trans- 
figuration then consisted, apparently, in a lumi- 
nous appearance which pervaded the whole face 
and figure of Jesus (compare Exod. 34 : 29, 30). As 
Christ took on him human nature and condition 
for converse with man, so here, it appears to me, 
he is represented as taking on the form and con- 
dition of the spirits, for the purpose of commu- 
nion with the spiritual world. Observe that it 
took place before them, i. e. the disciples, not dur- 
ing their sleep. They saw, not only Christ after 
he was transfigured, but also the process of the 
change, as it came over him. It is true, Luke's 
account, in our English version, implies that they 
were asleep, and were wakened out of it to 
behold the glory (Luke 9 : 32). But the original 



does not justify this interpretation. See notes 
there. 

3. There appeared unto them. That is, 
to the disciples. The implication is, that they 
not only saw the appearance, but recognized, in 
the persons, Moses and Elijah. How this recog- 
nition was afforded, is not stated ; perhaps by a 
subtle spiritual power of recognition. We often 
appear to ourselves to recognize in dreams per- 
sons we have never seen ; why may not the soul, 
in special spiritual conditions, possess a similar 
power of recognizing, in reality, unknown per- 
sons ? That Moses and Elijah were recognized, 
at the time, by the apostles, is evident from Pe- 
ter's proposition (verse 4). — Talking with him. 
Luke gives the subject of the conversation : 
"His decease which he should accomplish at Je- 
rusalem." It is worthy of note that Elijah did 
not die, but was translated, and that Moses' 
death was shrouded in peculiar mystery (2 Kings 2 : 
ii; Deut. 34: c). Dr. Brown's comment here is im- 
portant : "They speak not of his miracles, nor of 
his teaching, nor of the honor which he put upon 
their Scriptures, nor of the unreasonable opposi- 
tion to him, and his patient endurance of it. 
They speak not of the glory they were them- 
selves enshrouded in, and the glory which he was 
so soon to reach. Their one subject of talk is 
his decease which he was going to accomplish at 
Jerusalem. One fancies that he might hear them 
say, Worthy is the Lamb that is to be slain." 

4. Then answered Peter. The foremost 
to speak ; awe silences the rest, but not him. 
Compare with his characteristic impetuosity here, 
the incidents recorded in John 20 : 5, 6 ; SI : 7. 
Luke gives the explanation of his speaking. He 
spake "as they (i. e. Moses and Elijah) were de- 
parting," evidently to hinder their departure, 
and induce them to remain. — It is good for us 
to be here. It often appears to the Christian 
to be good to abide with Christ in spiritual ex- 
altation. But such hours are rare, and meant to 
be. It is better to descend and go about with 
Christ doing good. The one is often our wish, 
the other is his will. — Let us make. The bet- 
ter reading appears to be I will make. It is, at all 
events, an offer of service for the honor of Christ. 
— Three tabernacles. Rather booths, i. e. 
huts of the branches of the trees, such as Jacob 
made for his cattle (Gen. 33 : 17), and Jonah for a 
temporary shelter (jonah4 : 5). At the feast of the 
tabernacles, the Jews dwelt for a time in such 
booths, to remind them of their sojourn in the 



Oh. XVIL] 



MATTHEW. 



209 



5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud over- 
shadowed them : and, behold, a voice" out of the cloud, 
tvhich said, This is my beloved Son, in whom™ I am 
well pleased ; hear" ye him. 

6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their 
face, and were sore afraid. 

7 And Jesus came and touched? them, and said, Arise, 
and be not afraid. 



8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw 
no man, save Jesus only. 

g And as they came down from the mountain, 
Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no 
man, until the Son of man be risen again from the 
dead. 

io And his disciples asked him, saying, Why z then 
say the scribes that Elias must first come ? 



ch. 3: 17; Mark 1 : 11 ; Luke 3 : 22 ; 2 Pet. 1: 17.... w Isa. 42 : 1, 21.... x Dent. 18: 15, 19; Acts 3 : 22,23; Heb. 1 : 1,2; 2:1-1 
y Dan. 10 : 10, 18; Rev. 1 : 17 z ch. 11 : 14; Mai. 4 : 5, 6. 



wilderness (Lev. 23:42; Neh. 8:15,1s). Luke says 
that Peter spake "not knowing ichat he said," and 
Mark gives the explanation "for they were sore 
afraid." In other words, his was not a well-con- 
sidered proposition, to retain the spirits in earth- 
ly tabernacles, but an ardent expression inspired 
by awe and spiritual ecstasy commingled. 

5. Behold, a bright cloud overshadow- 
ed them. The language of the English version 
in Luke would leave the impression that all, in- 
cluding the disciples, entered this cloud ; but 
such is not the significance of the original (see Luke 
9 : 34, and note). Christ, Moses, and Elijah are alone 
represented as entering into the cloud, which 
separated them from the disciples' sight, and out 
of this cloud the voice spake to the disciples. 
By the disciples such a luminous cloud would be 
instantly accepted as a symbol of the divine 
presence. It is represented in the Scripture as 
the habitation or chariot of God (psalms 97 : 2 ; 

104 : 3 j Isaiah 19 : 1 ; compare 1 Tim. 6 : 16). A bright cloud, 

the Shechinah, is throughout the O. T. dispen- 
sation employed as a symbol of God's presence, 
being very generally entitled "the glory," or 
"the glory of the Lord." It appeared first to 
Moses in the bush, burning but not consumed 
(Exod. 3:2); led Israel through the wilderness 
(Exod. n : 21, 22) ; rested on Mount Sinai when Moses 
went up for conference with God (Exod. 19 : 9, is ; 
24 : le) ; filled the tabernacle on its completion 
(Exod. 40 : 34, 35) ; appeared from time to time as an 
accompaniment of special communion with God 

(Exod. 16 : 7, 10; 33 : 7-11; Numb. 14:10; 10:19,42; 20:6). 

After the death of Moses, just previous to which 
it is seen (Deut. 31 : 15), it disappears from Jewish 
history to reappear at the dedication of Solo- 
mon's temple (1 Kings 8 : 10). Ezekiel describes its 
solemn departure from Israel (Ezek. 10 : 4, with 11 : 23), 
but prophecies its return (Ezek. 43 : 2, 4), to which 
also there appear to be references in the other 
prophets (isaiah 4:5; zech. 2 : io). This symbol 
of the "glory of the Lord" appeared to the 
shepherds at the time of Christ's birth (Luke 2: 9), 
and received Christ at his ascension (Acts 1 : 9). 
Since then it has disappeared again from earth, 
but will surround him at his second coming (Matt. 

24: 30; 26: 64; Mark 13:26; 14 : 62 ; Luke 21 : 27 ; Rev. 1 :7; 14:14), 

and will receive the ascending saints (1 Thess. i-.vt; 

Rev. 11 : 12, compare Rev. 10 : l). — A voice Out of the 

cloud. A voice directly communicating the 



divine will was a common accompaniment of the 
appearance of the Shechinah. See Exod. 33 : 9, 
and other references above. 

This is my beloved Son. Thus a triple 
testimony confirms the faith of Peter and the 
disciples declared in the previous chapter — Moses, 
the lawgiver, Elijah, the prophet, and the ap- 
pearance and voice of God. The phrase "be- 
loved Son" is applied to no one in the N. T. but 
to Jesus. Compare Matt. 3 : 17, and note. Ob- 
serve also the implied contrast between Moses 
and Elijah the servants, and Christ the Son of 
God. — Hear ye him. A gentle rebuke to Peter. 
There are times when the highest duty is not to 
speak, even in praise of Christ, but simply to be 
still and know the Lord. See Psalms 4 : 4 ; 46 : 10 ; 
Luke 10 : 39-43. Observe the implication that 
the law and the prophets both point to and pre- 
pare for Christ. The sum of their teaching to us 
is, Hear ye Him. 

G, 7. Peculiar to Matthew. Observe that 
fear is the common effect in the human mind 
of any experience which brings near to us 
the invisible world (judges 13 : 20 ; Ezek. 1 : 28), and 
that Christ's reassuring message is, Be not 

afraid (Luke 2 : 9, 10 ; Matthew 14 : 27 ; 28 : 4, 5 ; Rev. 1:17). 

8. They saw no man save Jesus only. 

Moses, the representative of the law, and Eli- 
jah, of the prophets, depart ; Christ the Son, 
abides. Compare Hebrews 3 : 5, 6. 

9. Vision (Greek u\jd,uu). This word is some- 
times simply equivalent to sight or things seen 
(Acts 7 : si), sometimes it indicates a spiritual ec- 
stasy or trance, or rather that which appears in 
the trance state (Acts n : 3; io, n), sometimes an ex- 
perience which may have been wrought through 
a dream (Acts 16 : 9; is : 9). Here Christ's direction 
is simply equivalent to, Tell what you have seen 
to no man. It leaves the question whether the 
sight had been afforded in a dream, a trance, or 
a natural condition, to be determined by other 
considerations. Luke states that "they (the dis- 
ciples) kept it close and told no man in those 
days ;" but he does not give the reason for their 
silence. Mark adds that they questioned one 
with another "what the rising from the dead 
should mean," one of the many indications in the 
N. T. that they did not understand, or at least 
did not accept, his prophecies of his death, nor 
comprehend his prophecies of his resurrection. 



no 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVII. 



ii And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias 
truly shall first come, and restore all things. 

12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, 
and they knew him not, but have done unto him what- 



soever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man 
suffer" of them. 

13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto 
them of John the Baptist. 



& ch. 16: 21. 



Both events, though foretold, were entirely un- 
expected to them. Compare Luke 18 : 34. 

Lessons of the Transfiguration. Many 
attempts have been made to explain away this 
incident ; as that it is a legend growing out of 
the glory of Christ's person and teaching, or a 
dream of Peter, induced by a thunder-storm, the 
cloud or mist pervaded by electric light being 
mistaken by the half-wakened disciple for the 
Shechinah, or that it narrates an experience in a 
trance, analogous to that of Peter described in 
Acts, ch. 10. No one, however, can doubt that 
the writers intended to be understood as narrat- 
ing a real occurrence. That it could not have 
been a dream is evident, because it was expe- 
rienced simultaneously by three, and while they 
were fully awake (Luke 9 : 32, and note). There is no 
incident in the Bible of a trance experienced by 
three simultaneously ; but we know too little of 
what a trance is to speak definitely on that hypo- 
thesis. The reality of the conversation of Jesus 
with Moses and Elias is assured ; that, in order 
to become cognizant of it, the disciples were 
thrown into a trance is possible, but is nowhere 
indicated in the narrative. These quasi explana- 
tions grow out of the assumption either that 
there is no spirit-world, or that it can never hold 
communion with this world, two errors which it 
is the express purpose of this incident to cor- 
rect. 

It appears to me to teach the following lessons : 
Directly (1) that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
the living God. It follows the testimony of Peter 
to his Lord's divinity ; confirms that faith ; gives 
it directly the divine sanction ; implies the sanc- 
tion of the law and the prophets. (2. ) The reality 
and something of the nature of the spirit world. 
I hesitate to interpret its teachings concerning 
the nature of an existence which is necessarily 
beyond our clear apprehension. This incident, 
however, appears to me to indicate that the state 
intermediate death and the judgment is not one 
of unconscious existence ; that the departed 
dwell in glorified bodies (though Paul appears in 
1 Cor. 15 : 44, 51-53, to imply that the glorified 
body is raised up at the general resurrection) ; 
that they are, like the angels, ministering spirits 
(Heb. 1:7); that communication between the other 
world and this is possible, though exceptional ; 
that the immortal life is not exclusively future, 
but has already commenced. Indirectly it teaches 
the relation between high ecstatic experience and 
practical piety. The former are occasional, excep- 



tional, transient, confined to the few ; the latter 
is for all times, for all places, for all persons. 
But three ascend the mountain with Christ, and 
they cannot abide there ; the many throng him in 
the valley, and none are denied his presence. 

Ch. 17 ; 10-13. QUESTION CONCERNING ELIJAH.— 
The message and messenger of God are often 
unrecognized. 

Elias is the Greek form of the word Elijah. 
Alford gives the connection of the disciples' 
question with the preceding incident. "The oc- 
casion of tins inquiry was that they had just seen 
Elijah withdraw from their eyes, and were en- 
joined not to tell the vision. How should this 
be ? H this was not the coming of Elijah, was 
he yet to come ? If it was, how was it so secret 
and so short?" The prophecy of Elijah's com- 
ing, as a forerunner to the Messiah, is in Mai. 
4:5. On this prophecy and its fulfillment by 
John the Baptist, see note on Matt. 11 : 14. 

11. Elijah indeed comcth. Not shall first 
come, but is coming— the tense is present, not 
future. — And shall restore all things. Ob- 
serve, it is of a restoration, not of a new creation, 
Christ speaks. John the Baptist attempted a ref- 
ormation of Judaism, and he was himself a res- 
toration of the extinct order of prophets and 
the last of that order. This reformation of Ju- 
daism was the preparation for Christianity. Cer- 
tain of the commentators look for a second com- 
ing of Elijah, personally, as a preliminary to the 
second coming of Christ. Do they also expect a 
second restoration of Judaism ? But this would 
involve the undoing of what has been done, in the 
establishment of the larger and freer religion of 
Jesus Christ. Old things are passed away, and 
are not to be restored ; all things are become 
new. I do not here consider the vexed question 
of Christ's second coming. But it seems to me 
that the language here, and in the succeeding 
verse, gives no countenance to and is scarcely 
reconcilable with the second coming of Elijah. 
However, on all unfulfilled prophecies I speak 
with diffidence. 

12. Elijah is come already. James Mor- 
ison renders Tlie coming of Elijah is already past. 
And they knew him not. They did not rec- 
ognize in John the Baptist the fulfilment of the 
prophecy of the coming of Elijah. — But have 
done unto him whatsoever they listed. 
The account of his martyrdom is given in Matt. 
14 : (5-12, Mark 6 : 21-29. The murder was per- 



Ch. XVIL] 



MATTHEW. 



211 



14 And 5 when they were come to the multitude, there 
came to mm a certain man, kneeling down to him, and 
saying, 

15 Lord, have mercv on my son ; for he is lunatic, 
and sore vexed : for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and 
oft into the water. 

16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they 
could not cure him. 

17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and 
perverse generation ! how long shall I be with you ! 
now long shall I suffer you ? bring him hither to 
me. 

18 And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed 
out of him : and the child was cured from that very 
hour. 

19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, 
Why could not we cast him out I 

20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your un- 
belief: for verily I say unto you, If- 1 ye have faith as a 
grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 
Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove ; 
and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 



21 Howbeit, this kind goeth not out, but by prayer 
and fasting. 

22 And while 6 they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto 
them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands 
of men ; 

23 And they shall kill him, and the third day he shall 
be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry. 

24 And when they were come to Capernaum, thev 
that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, 
Doth not your master pay tribute ? 

25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the 
house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest 
thou, Simon ? of whom do the kings of the earth take 
custom or tribute ? of their own children, or of stran- 
gers ? 

• 26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus said 
unto him, Then are the children free. 

27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend r them, go 
thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish 
that first cometh up ; and when thou hast opened his 
mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money ; that take, and 
give unto them, for me and thee. 



b MarS 9 : 14, etc.; Luke 9 : 37, etc c Heb. 3: 19 deb. 21 : 21 ; Murk 11 : 23; Luke 17 : 6 ; 1 Cor. 13 : 2 e ch. 16 : 21 ; 20 : 17-19; 

Murk 8 : 31 ; 9 : 30, 31 ; 10 : 33 ; Luke 9 : 22 j 18 : 31 ; 24 : 6, 26, 46 f Rom. 14 : 21 ; 15 : 1-3 ; 2 Cor. 6 : 3. 



petrated by Herod. Here it is imputed to the 
Scribes and Pharisees, because their influence 
was adverse to John, and perhaps because, if 
they had recognized and received him, Herod, 
who feared the people, would have feared to per- 
petrate the murder. 

14-21. Healing of the Demoniac Bot. 
Recorded also in Mark 9 : 14-29, and Luke 9 : 37 
-43. The account is fullest in Mark. See notes 
there. But observe the transition from the 
scene of glory to the scene of suffering, and the 
reason why it would not have been good for 
Christ and the three disciples to have remained 
above in tabernacles, on the mountain ; because 
so they would have left the suffering uncared 
for. 

22, 23. Christ's Prophecies of his Death. 
Recorded also in Mark 9 : 30-32 ; Luke 9 : 43-43. 
See note on ch. 16 : 21. 

Ch. 17 : 24-27. DEMAND Of TRIBUTE, AND CHRIST'S 
REPLY.— The church op Christ is a tree church. 
It is supported by voluntary offerings, not by 
compulsory taxation.— It is better to submit to 
an unjust demand, than, by resisting, to do an 
act of seeming wrong. 

Peculiar to Matthew. Whether this incident 
occurred at the time indicated by its place in this 
chapter is uncertain. The temple tribute, here 
referred to, was generally paid at the time of the 
Passover, and that leads to the hypothesis that 
Matthew has inserted it here, out of its place, 
because of its connection with the other teach- 
ings of Christ, in these chapters, concerning him- 
self as the Son of God, and the Church as the 
representative of the kingdom of God. But the 
tax was not always promptly paid. Payment 
was indeed so irregular, that Lightfoot says that 
the receivers of the tribute had before them two 
chests placed, one of which received the tax of 



the current year, the other the tax of the year 
past. 

24. Capernaum. The demand was made at 
Capernaum, because it was the residence of both 
Jesus and Peter. The wandering life of our 
Lord and his disciples had perhaps prevented 
the demand from having been made before. 
— Tribute. A mistranslation, and an unfortu- 
nate one ; for it at once conveys the idea of a tax 
to the Roman government. The true rendering 
is, Doth not your master pay the didrachm (two 
drachmas), or half shekel, a sum equivalent to 
about thirty cents of our money. This was a 
tax levied annually on all Israelites, for the sup- 
port of the Temple, the morning and evening 
sacrifice, the incense, wood, shew-bread, scape- 
goat, &c. 

25. Jesus anticipated him. That is, Je- 
sus, knowing what had passed between Peter and 
the tribute takers, spoke, before Peter had op- 
portunity to speak to him on the subject. — Of 
whom do the kings of the earth take 
custom (taxes on goods) or tribute (the poll tax)'! 
of their own sons or of other men ? The 
contrast is not between the citizens of the State 
and foreigners or strangers, for taxes were paid by 
all citizens, but between the children of the royal 
family, who were exempt from taxation, and the 
rest of the people. For significance of the word 
here rendered strangers, see Luke 16 : 12 ; Romans 
14 : 4 ; 15 : 20, where it is rendered another man. 

26. This is not a mere re-statement of Peter's 
declaration, equivalent to Then are the children of 
the kings free ; but an application of the principle 
to the question of paying the Temple tax, and is 
equivalent to, On this principle, the children 
of God are free from taxes for the support of his 
kingdom. 

27. Lest we should scandalize them ; 
by refusing to pay the tax, an act liable to be to- 



212 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVII. 



tally misunderstood, and charged to impiety or 
religious indifference. — And when thou hast 
opened his mouth, thou shalt find. But 

not necessarily in his mouth, perhaps in the stom- 
ach where valuables are often discovered by fish- 
ermen. — A piece of money. Literally a te- 
tradrachm (four drachmas) or stater (Greek 
aTati'ig). The language of our Lord defines the 




TETADRACHM OE STATER. 

coin which should be discovered, and which 
would be of exactly the right amount to pay the 
tax for the two. The stater, which answered to 
the Hebrew shekel, was equivalent to about sixty 
cents of our money. For me and thee. It is 
a noticeable fact that Christ never ranks himself 
with his disciples. His language here is not for 
us, but for me and thee, as elsewhere it is not Our 
Father, but "my Father and your Father, my 
God and your God " (jobn 20 : 17). 

Significance of this Incident. The first 
tabernacle was constructed wholly by voluntary 
offerings (Exod. 35 : 5). Subsequently, the amount 
to be paid yearly by each one for the Tabernacle 
or Temple was fixed at a half shekel (exo<i. so : 12 
-15), which was accepted as a ransom, for the soul 
of the giver, unto the Lord. Still no provision 
was made for compelling payment, if it were re- 
fused, and it seems to have remained in the na- 
ture of a voluntary gift. But in subsequent his- 
tory there was a bitter conflict between the Sad- 
ducees and the Pharisees, upon the question 
whether this should be regarded as a free-will 
offering or made compulsory. The Pharisees, 
who advocated the latter position, carried their 
point ; and so great was the conflict and their 
triumph, that they kept the anniversary as a kind 
of half festival. After the destruction of Jeru- 
salem the tax was continued by Vespasian, but 
was applied to the uses of the Temple of the Cap- 
itoline Jupiter (josephus' wars, 1 ■. e, § e). This temple 
tax was called for by the temple tax-gatherer, 
from Jesus. He is uncertain whether this new 
Rabbi will acknowledge or repudiate the tax, will 
class himself with the Pharisees or Sadducees. 
Peter, knowing his Lord's principle to fulfill all 
the obligations of the law (Matt. 3 : 15; 5 : it; 23 : 3), 
answers at once that his Master will pay it. 
Christ replies : The children of a king are not 
liable to compulsory taxation for their father's 
support. My followers are children of the Great 
King. They are not, therefore, to be compelled to 



pay a specified sum for the support of his house 
and worship. Their offerings must be free-will 
offerings. Thus Christ stamps with his disap- 
proval all systems which make the church of 
Christ depend for support on ecclesiastical taxa- 
tion of any kind, and declares that it must be 
supported by the free-will offerings of the chil- 
dren of God. This he has declared before by im- 
plication (Matt. 10 : 10, and note). This is the basis on 
which the church was subsequently placed by the 

apostles (Acts 2:45; 4:34; 1 Cor. 16:1, 2; 2 Cor. 9 : 1, l). 

The incident has been misinterpreted by some of 
the older commentators, who mistook the tribute 
referred to for the tax payable to the Roman 
government — an error which is refuted, both by 
the original Greek, and by the general scope of 
the incident. It has been misunderstood by 
many of the English and the continental com- 
mentators, who have been generally committed 
to a State church, and averse to see in the N. T. 
anything inconsistent with the support of such a 
church by church rates. They have accordingly 
generally regarded it as simply a personal claim 
by Christ to be free, because he is the Son of 
God. But that he signifies the freedom of all 
his followers from ecclesiastical tax, and the 
support of his church by free-will offerings, is 
evident because (a) he declares not, Then am I 
the Son of God free, but then are the children 
free ; (&) he emphasizes this declaration by pro- 
viding payment for Peter as well as for himself ; 
(c) this accords (see references above) with other 
parallel teachings of the N. T. ; (d) it accords 
with the fact that a half shekel tax was a ransom 
paid for the soul (Exod. so : 12), and that the souls 
of the children of God are ransomed once for all 
by Christ. Trench says, "This (liberty) plainly 
is not true concerning dues owing to God ; none 
are so bound to render them as his 'sons.' " But 
this is an exact begging of the question, or rather 
a direct repudiation of the teaching of Christ and 
the apostles, which is, that all the law is included 
in love, and that no compulsory dues can take the 
place of a free-will offering. For a fuller state- 
ment of this interpretation see E. H. Plumptre in 
Smith's Bible Dictionary, article Tribute. The 
Lord provides the money, however, "lest we 
should scandalize them," James Morison gives the 
explanation well : "leading them to think, per- 
haps, that he was opposed to the temple-service, 
or that he was churlish in his disposition, or that 
in his heart, the true state of which is often re- 
vealed by money transactions, he was irreverent 
toward God." AndPlumptre draws aright the 
lesson from his compliance. " It is better to com- 
ply with the payment, than to startle the weak 
brethren, or run counter to feelings that deserve 
respect, or lay an undue stress on a matter of 
little moment." 




''Jesus called a little child unto him. and set him in the midst of them." 



Oh. XVIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



213 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ATe the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, 
saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven ? 



2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him 
in the midst of them, 

3 And said. Verily I say unto you, Except ye be con- 
verted, 11 and become as little children, 1 ye shall not en- 
ter into the kingdom of heaven. 



g Mark 9 : S3, etc. ; Luke 9 : 40, etc. ; 22 : 24, etc h Ps. El : 10-13 ; John 3:3 i 1 Cor. 14 : 20 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 2. 



Ch. 18 : 1-14. DISCOURSE CONCERNING GREATNESS 
IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.— Christ's use op ob- 
ject TEACHING (V. 2). — LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM 
A LITTLE CHILD. — CONVERSION ILLUSTRATED (v. 3). — 

Humility illustrated (v. 4). — To receive Christ, 

RECEIVE ONE OP HIS LITTLE ONES (v. 5).— To OFFEND 

Christ, tempt one op nis little ones (vs. 6-9). — The 

NEEDY ARE NEAREST TO God's THRONE (v. 10).— RE- 
DEEMING LOVE ILLUSTRATED (VS. 11-14). 

Preliminary Note. This eighteenth chapter 
of Matthew contains instructions concerning the 
Kingdom of God, which were given to the 
twelve alone. It may be divided into three sec- 
tions. In the first (verses 1-14) Christ warns his dis- 
ciples against ambition and self-seeking, and 
counsels them against leading astray humbler 
and feebler disciples ; in the second (verses 15-20) he 
tells them what course the disciple is to pursue 
toward the wrong-doer ; in the third (verses 21-35) 
he illustrates and enforces the duty of personal 
forgiveness. The conference appears to have 
taken place at Capernaum and in the house (Mark 
9 : 33), possibly the house of Peter, who resided 
there. Verses 1-9 have their parallel in Mark 9 : 
33-50, and Luke 9 : 40-50. The rest of this chapter 
is peculiar to Matthew. Some of the aphorisms 
contained in it are, however, found elsewhere in 
Christ's teaching, and some points here hinted 
at are more fully treated by our Lord at other 
times (see notes below). Matthew connects the 
instructions given in this chapter by the par- 
ticles "moreover" (verse 15) and "then" (verse 21); 
but these do not always, in N. T. usage, indicate 
a close chronological connection ; and though it 
is not improbable that this chapter constituted 
one discourse, delivered to the disciples at one 
time, it is by no means certain that Matthew has 
not gathered here instructions imparted at differ- 
ent times, but all during the same general 
period of Christ's ministry, and relating to the 
same general theme. 

1. At the same time. Literally, In the same 
hour. That is, apparently, immediately subse- 
quent to the incident narrated in the previous 
chapter. According to this account the disciples 
came to Christ with the question, Who is the 
greatest ? According to Mark (9 : 33) they had 
engaged in a dispute who should be the greatest, 
i. c, who should hold the chief offices in the 
political kingdom which they supposed Christ 
had come to establish. Christ asked them the 
subject of their controversy, and they held their 
peace, being probably ashamed of it. Town- 



send's explanation of the seeming inconsistency 
is reasonable. This is, that certain of the dis- 
ciples had claimed pre-eminence, as James and 
John did later, that Jesus asked them of their 
dispute, that they were ashamed to reply, and 
that then the other disciples preferred the ques- 
tion, Who is the greatest ? Matthew has given 
only this question and Christ's answer; Mark 
has narrated the circumstances which led to it. 
Similar disputes continued, in spite of the teach- 
ing given here, down almost to the time of 

Christ's death. (Matt. 20 : 20, 21, 24; Luke 22 : 24.) — Who 

is the greatest. Literally, greater, i. e., than 
the rest. The language is in the original, as in 
the English, in the present tense ; but the ques- 
tion probably had a future meaning. Their 
question was not, What elements of character 
make true greatness ? who of us is greatest ? 
but, Who of us shall occupy the highest place in 
your coming kingdom ? It was the question of 
the ecclesiastic, not of the true Christian dis- 
ciple. "Peter was always the chief speaker, and 
already had the keys given him ; he expects to 
be lord chancellor, or lord chamberlain of the 
household, and so to be the greatest. Judas had 
a bag, and therefore he expects to be lord treas- 
urer, which, though now he comes last, he hopes 
will then dominate him the greatest. Simon and 
Jude are nearly related to Christ (but query as 
to this statement, see pp. Ill, 113), and they hope 
to take the place of all the great officers of state, 
as princes of the blood. John is the beloved dis- 
ciple, the favorite of the Prince, and therefore 
hopes to be the greatest. Andrew was first 
called, and why should not he be first prefer- 
red? " — (Matthew Henry.) 

2. And Jesus called a little child to 
him. Evidently, from the language employed 
(the Greek is nuidLov, the diminutive), it was a 
young child ; evidently from his calling it, not a 
mere infant. — And set him in the midst of 
them. A striking illustration and an incidental 
endorsement of object teaching in morals. The 
O. T. prophets, Ezekiel especially, often em- 
ployed the same method. 

3. Except ye be converted. For the 
meaning of the word ((jt^icpa)) here rendered 
converted, see Luke 7 : 9, Jesus "turned him 
about," i. e., he was going in one direction and 
turned about so as to face in the other direction, 
Acts 7 : 39, "our fathers * * * in their 
hearts turned bach again into Egypt," i. «., from 
following and serving Jehovah turned back to 



214 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XVIII 



4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself' as this 
little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven. 



5 And whoso shall receive one such little child* in 
my name, receiveth me. 

6 But whoso shall offend 1 one of these little ones 



j Luke 14 : 11 j Jas. 4 : 10 k ch. 10 : 45 1 Mark 9 : 42 ; Luke 17 : 1, 2. 



worship the golden calf which was an image of 
the Egyptian bull, Acts 13 : 46, "seeing ye judge 
yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, we turn 
to the Gentiles." These passages indicate the 
meaning to be attached to the word here rendered 
convert (oTQetpiu), which always signifies a radical 
and complete change, in method, spirit, or 
course. Here it is, Unless you be turned entirely 
away from this spirit of self-seeking you cannot 
enter the kingdom of heaven, much less be 
greatest in it. The verb is in the passive mood ; 
it is not, Except ye turn, but, Except ye be 
turned, thus indicating that the turning of the 
disciples, to be effectual, must be by a higher 
power than their own. 

[The Greek student should also observe that 
the tense here is not the future, but the aorist, 
and represents neither an act completed in the 
past time, i. e., it is not equivalent to, Except ye 
had been converted, nor one to be effected in the 
future, Except ye shall be converted, but one 
past and continuing, Except ye be continually 
turned back from this spirit of self-seeking, and 
continually take on the spirit of a little child. 
Parallel is John 15 : 6, If a man abide not in me 
he is cast forth, neither has been nor will be, but 
is in the state of a branch broken from the vine. 
See Buttmann's N. T. Gr. § 137, p. 198 ; Winer's 
N. T. Greek, § 40, 5, b, p. 277.] 

And become as little children. "Not 
foolish (i Cor. 14 : 20), nor fickle (Eph. 4 : 14), nor play- 
ful, but childlike (Matt, n : i6) ; as children we 
must desire the sincere milk of the word (i Pet. 
2:2); be careful for nothing, but leave it to our 
heavenly Father to care for us (Matt. 6 : 31) ; be 
harmless and inoffensive, and void of malice 
(l Cor. 14 ; 20) ; governable and under command (Gal. 
4:2); and what is here chiefly intended, we must 
be humble as little children." — (MattJiew Henry.) 
See also 1 Pet. 1 : 14. (See note on next verse.) 
Observe that elsewhere manhood is set before us 
as our aim (Ephes. 4 : 13). The sense in which child- 
hood is a pattern to us is well given by Chrysos- 
tom. "For such a little child is free from pride, 
and the mad desire of glory, and envy, and con- 
tentiousness, and all such passions, and having 
many virtues,— simplicity, humility, unworldli- 
ness, — prides itself on none of them ; having a 
twofold severity of goodness ; to have these 
things and not to be puffed up about them." 

4. Whosoever therefore shall humble 
himself as this little child. This interprets 
the preceding verse, and points out the respect 
in which we are to become as little children ; and 



it is in turn further interpreted by the addition in 
Luke (9 : 48), He that is least among you all, i. e. 
who is willing to be least in rank and dignity, the 
same shall be great. Humility is not thinking 
meanly of one's self, but being willing, eveu with 
great powers, to take a lowly office and perform 
seemingly menial and insignificant and not hon- 
ored service. The first is not characteristic of 
childhood, the latter is. Christ's own example is 
the best interpretation of his teaching ; for an 
interpretation of this precept, therefore, see Phil. 
2 : 5-8. Compare Phil. 4 : 12, and Christ's sym- 
bolic repetition of this teaching in the washing 
of the disciples' feet, John 13 : 3-5, 12-15. 

5. And whoso shall receive one such 
little child. These words are to be taken in 
their most natural signification, He who, for 
Christ's sake, receives a little child to his heart, 
receives Christ, and that irrespective of any faith 
in or love for Christ in the child's experience. 
Compare Matt. 10 : 40-42. — In my name. Lit- 
erally, upon my name, i. e. upon the ground of my 
name, out of consideration to me, and for my 
sake. — Receiveth me. Observe that the true 
way to receive Christ is to receive, into our hearts, 
for Christ's sake, those who need the hospitality 
of our sympathies, as the way to serve Christ is 
by serving the needy and suffering (Matt. 25 : 40). 

At this point in Christ's instructions occurred a 
significant interruption and Christ's response, for 
account of which see Mark 9 : 38-41 and notes 
there. On the passage up to this point Calvin 
observes that the disciples were guilty of a 
double fault, first in laying aside anxiety about 
their present warfare to discuss future reward, a 
fault allied to the vain curiosity of those who 
now neglect terrestrial duties for celestial specu- 
lations, whose condition is as if a man who was 
about to commence a journey made enquiries 
where a lodging-place was situated, but did not 
move a step ; the second in striving with wicked 
ambition to excel each other, instead of rendering 
mutual assistance. Matthew Henry observes 
that if Christ ever intended to teach the primacy 
of Peter, the occasion was afforded by the dis- 
ciples' question, Who is the greatest ? whereas his 
answer emphatically disallows any primacy. And 
Chrysostom, with characteristic quaintness, says, 
"We are not able to attain so much as unto their 
faults, neither do we ask who is greatest in the king- 
dom of heaven ; but who is greatest in the earthly 
kingdom, who is wealthiest, who most powerful." 

6. But whoso shall offend. Cause to 
stumble or fall into sin. See note on Matt. 5 : 29. 



Oh. XVIII] 



MATTHEW. 



215 



which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill- 
stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were 
drowned in the depth of the sea. 

7 Woe unto the world because of offences ! for 1 " it 
must needs be that offences come ; but woe" to that 
man by whom the offence cometh ! 

8 Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, 
cut them off, and cast them from thee : it is better for 



thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than, 
having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlast- 
ing fire. 

9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast 
it from thee : it is better for thee to enter" into life with 
one eye, rather than, having two eyes, 1 ' to be cast into 
hell fire. 

io Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 



m 1 Cor. 11 : 19 j Juile 4. . . .n Jude 11 o ch. 5 : £9, 30 ; Mark 9 : 43, 43. . . .p Heb. 4 : 11. . . .q Luke 3 : 25. 



— Which believe in me. The Greek prepo- 
sition (ale) in, when employed, as here, respecting 
the feelings, signifies the end or aim towards 
which they reach. Here the meaning is, Whose 
faith reaches out after me as its chief good. 
For experience indicated by the phrase, compare 
Phil. 3 : 13, 14. In the N. T. we are said to be- 
lieve in (tig) Jesus Christ, but never to believe in 
(elc) any prophet, apostle or other human teacher, 
one of the numerous minor indications of Christ's 
superhuman character. " We believe Paul, but 
we do not believe in Paul." — (Augustine.) — A 
millstone. Literally, an ass' millstone. The 
larger mills were turned by asses, the smaller 
ones by hand. The Greek here (jivXog uvixug) sig- 
nifies the former kind of stone. — Cast into the 
depth of the sea, i. e. the open or deep sea, 
remote from land. This method of capital pun- 
ishment was practised by the Egyptians, Greeks, 
and Romans, and possibly occasionally by the 
Jews. 

7. Woe unto the world. The language 
may be read as that either of lamentation or of 
denunciation. Compare Matt. 23 : 15, 10, with 
Mark 13 : 17. Perhaps the feeling here represent- 
ed is a commingled one. — Because of temp- 
tations. Literally, traps. See note on Matt. 5 : 
29 ; 16 : 23.— For it must needs be that 
temptations come. This truth is set forth as 
an additional warning. The disciple must not 
forget that there is no possibility of avoiding 
temptation, and must therefore always be on his 
guard both for himself and others. The lan- 
guage might imply nothing more than that, as 
life is constituted, temptations are unavoidable. 
Compare for use of the same word rendered 
here needs be (uiuyxri), Luke 14 : 18 ; 23 : 17, where 
no absolute compulsion is indicated. But in an- 
other place (Luke n : i), Christ uses even stronger 
language : It is impossible but that offences will 
come. The question at once occurs, Why is it 
impossible ? This question carries the mind 
directly back to the origin of evil ; it belongs to 
philosophy, not to biblical interpretation. Christ 
makes no attempt to answer it here, or elsewhere. 
Personally, I count it one of the insoluble prob- 
lems of the universe. — But woe to that man 
by whom the temptation cometh. But if 
temptations be a necessity, why is he blame- 
worthy who produces them ? This is a question 
which the commentators and theologians discuss ; 



Christ does not, either here or elsewhere. He 
simply sets the two facts side by side ; the inevi- 
tableness of temptation ; the personal responsi- 
bility and sin of the tempter. The one is ratified 
by our observation ; the other by our personal 
consciousness. It is observable that Christ's 
method here is in general the biblical method, 
which frequently sets forth seemingly conflicting 
truths in strong terms, and often in close juxtapo- 
sition, but nowhere offers explanations to harmo- 
nize them. See, for examples, Acts 2 : 23 ; Rom. : 
14-23 ; Phil. 2 : 12, 13 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 4, 5, 10. 

8-9. The connection is this. So great is the 
evil of becoming a cause of temptation to others 
or to yourself, that it is better to cut off the 
most innocent or even useful exercise of a God- 
given power, than so to use it as to lead yourself 
or others into sin. See the same aphorism, with 
a slighty different connection, in Matt, 5 : 29, 30, 
and note there. In the original the use of the 
article makes stronger the contrast than in our 
version, which should read, " Enter into Hie life 
-:«■ * * than be cast into the fire everlasting." On 
the phrase hell-fire (verse 9), see note on Matt. 5 : 
22. Mark adds a description of it in the words, 
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched ' ' (Mark 9 : 43). He also adds two verses 
not given by Matthew or Luke. See Mark 9 : 49, 50. 

10. Take heed, (oquto.) A word of caution 
of frequent use in the N. T., and indicating a 
subtle temptation against which the Christian 
must watch. Compare Matt. 16 : 6 ; Luke 12 : 
15 ; 1 Thess. 5 : 15.— That ye despise not 
one of these little ones. Not merely one of 
these children, but one of these little ones; i. e. any 
one who is insignificant and unimportant. Com- 
pare Matt. 10 : 42 ; 11 : 11. The caution is ad- 
ministered to the spirit that seeks a high place in 
the church, a caution not to look down with con- 
tempt upon the weak in faith, the poor in know- 
ledge, or in grace, or in station. Compare for 
the application of the principle, Rom. 14 : 1-3, 13, 
15. The word here rendered despise (zatatpQorlw) 
is literally to think down upon, or as we should 
say, look down upon. 

For I say unto you that their angels, 
i. e. their guardian angels. With possibly two ex- 
ceptions (Acta 12 : 15 j Rev. 22 : 8, 9) the term angel 
(uyyeXHoe) is never used in the N. T. to designate 
a departed spirit, which is always rendered by 
another word (uvsifia or frurT<xa/j.u). In some in- 



216 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XVIII. 



ones ; for I say uuto you, That in heaven their angels' 
do always behold 8 the face of my Father which is in 
heaven. 

ii For the Son of man is come to save that' which 
was lost. 

12 How think ye ? If" a man have an hundred 
sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not 
leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the moun- 
tains, and seeketh that which is gone astray ? 



13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, 
he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and 
nine which went not astray. 

14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is 
in heaven, that one" of these little ones should perish. 

15 Moreover, if thy" brother shall trespass against 
thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him 
alone : if he 1 shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy 
brother. 



.t ch. 1 : 21 ; Luke 9 : 56 ; 19 : 10 ; John 3:17; 10 : 10: 12 : 47 ; 1 Tim. 1 : 15. . . .u Luke 15 : 4, etc. 
v 2 Pet. 3 : 9 w Lev. 19 : 17 ; Lu. 17 : 3 x Jas. 5 : 20. 



stances both angel (uyytlloo) and spirit (nvavau) 
are used in such connection as to indicate very 
clearly that they are not synonymous (Acta 23 : 8, 9). 
Etymologically the word means messenger, and it 
is sometimes so rendered in the N. T. (M«t. 11 : 10 ; 
Luke 7 : 24, 27). Usually it is employed to designate 
celestial beings, who are represented as the mes- 
sengers Of God (2 Kings 19 i 31 : Psalm 91 ; 11, 12 ; Heb. 1 : 13, 

14). Here are intended the celestial messengers 
who are allotted as the special guardians of 
God's children. Not their departed spirits after 
death, but their guardian angels while they live 
are represented as nearest the throne. 

Do always behold the face of my 
Father. That is, they always have direct and 
immediate access to God. The picture is inter- 
preted by the usage of courts, where certain 
special favorite officers always have access to the 

throne (l Kings 10 : 8 ; Esther 1 : 14; Jer. 52 : 25). With- 
out pressing the language, which is seemingly 
metaphorical, as all language descriptive of the 
spiritual world must be, it evidently implies (1) 
the doctrine of guardian angels, i. e. that angels 
are not only in general the ministering servants 
of God, but that special angels are allotted as the 
special guardians and attendants of individuals 

(compare Psalm 91 : 11, 12 ; Acts 27 : 23) ; and (2) that the 

weakest and feeblest of God's flock, not merely 
the children, but the little ones, in intellectual 
and spiritual power and in ecclesiastical position 
and earthly honor, have the readiest and nearest 
access to God ; in other words, that weakness 
and want, not greatness, constitute the strongest 
appeal to him. And with this idea consorts the 
entire passage. Stier's note, though somewhat 
fanciful, is beautiful : " Here is Jacob's ladder 
planted before our eyes : beneath are the little 
ones ; then their angels ; then the Son of man 
in heaven, in whom alone man is exalted above 
the angels, who, as the Great Angel of the cov- 
enant, cometh from the Presence and Bosom of 
the Father ; and above Him again the Father 
Himself and His good pleasure." 

11. For, the Son of man is come to 
save that which was lost ; i. e., the celes- 
tial messengers of the weak are always before the 
face of God, because the very office of redeeming love 
is to save the lost, those that cannot save them- 
selves. Observe the implication (1) that the 
world is lost, undone, beyond all human help ; 



(2) that the object of Christ's coming was not to 
teach or to legislate, but to save. Compare John 
1 : 13 ; 3 : 14-17. This verse is wanting in the 
Vatican and Sinaitic MSS., and is omitted by 
Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf and Tregelles. 
But it is found in the great body of MSS. both 
uncial and cursive, and in all the old versions, 
the Vulgate, Syriac, Armenian and Ethiopic. Al- 
ford retains it. It is found also in Luke 19 : 10, 
where its authenticity is undoubted. 

12, 13. This parable is expanded in Luke 
15 : 4-6. See notes there. The proper rendering 
of verse 12 is, Doth he not leave the ninety -nine upon 
the mountain ? It is not the strong and safe that 
need care, but the weak and feeble. The strong 
expression of verse 13 is not to be weakened by 
any such modification as that of James Morrison, 
"In the calm depth of his soul there is a settled 
satisfaction in the possession of the 99, which is 
ninety-nine times deeper than the emotion which 
is stirred into activity by the recovery of the 
one." The words of Christ are not to be thus 
shorn of their meaning. The highest joy, recog- 
nized in the Bible, as existing in heaven or on 
earth, is the joy, not of possessing, but of saving 
a soul. Compare Isaiah 53 : 11 ; Luke 15 : 7, 10 ; 
Heb. 12 : 2 ; Psalm 147 : 11 ; Micah 7 : 18 ; Zeph. 
3:17. 

14. The language of the original appears to me 
to be even stronger than that of our" version. — 
So there is not a will in the presence of 
your Father in heaven that one of these 
little ones should perish. Not only it is not 
his will ; but he will not permit such a will in his 
presence. This verse alone ought to be sufficient 
as a refutation of the doctrine that God chooses 
some souls for destruction, in order to show forth 
his glory. 

Ch. 18 : 15-20.— CHRIST'S PRECEPTS FOR THE SET- 
TLEMENT 0b' QUARRELS.— THE POWER OF UNITED 
CHRISTIAN FAITH. 

15. Moreover. This conjunction connects 
what follows with what proceeds. Christ has be- 
fore warned us from offending against others ; 
he now tells us what we are to do when others 
sin against us. Calvin traces the connection 
clearly and well. ' ' Christ enjoins his disciples to 
forgive one another, but to do so in such a man- 
ner as to endeavor to correct their faults. It is 



Ch. XVIII.] MATTHEW. 

16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee 
one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three 
witnesses' every word may be established. 



21? 



17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto 
the church : but if he neglect to hear the church, let 
him 2 be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. 



y Deut. 19 : 15 ; 2 Cor. 13:1 z Rom. 10 : 17 ; 1 Cor. 5 : S-5 ; 2 Thess. 3 : 6, 14. 



necessary that this be wisely observed ; for noth- 
ing is more difficult than to exercise forbearance 
toward men, and at the same time not to neglect 
the freedom necessary in reproving them." — 
If thy brother. Not merely fellow- Christian. 
Since God is the Father of the whole human race, 
it is treated in Scripture as one family, and all 
men as brethren. Compare Matt. 5 : 23-21 ; 7 : 
3-5 ; Hebrews 8 : 11 ; James 2 : 15 ; 1 John 3 : 10. 
Evidently, from these and parallel passages the 
instructions here are not necessarily limited to 
the case of church members who offend. — Shall 
trespass against thee. Christ does not tell 
the church how it is to treat one who aposta- 
tizes from the faith or from a holy life ; but the 
individual Christian how he is to treat one who 
has personally sinned against him. True, some 
MSS., including the Sinaitic and the Vatican, 
omit against thee, as does Tischendorf and Lach- 
mann, but the ordinary reading is the better one. 
The omission was probably for the purpose of 
giving an ecclesiastical meaning to the passage. 
— Go and convince him between thee 
and him alone. Privately as possible, that 
you may not have his pride arrayed against you. 
For the spirit in which this should be done com- 
pare Gal. 6 : 1. In how many cases should we be 
ashamed of having taken offence, in the very 
attempt to speak of it ; in how many more, would 
such a kindly conference end all trouble. — If he 
shall hear thee. Not, as Chrysostom, " if he 
should be persuaded that he has done wrong;" 
but, literally, u if he shall hear tliee," i. e. if, as we 
say, he is willing to listen to reason ; if he is 
ready for a Christian conference and mutual ex- 
planations. — Thou hast gained thy brother. 
Brotherliness is represented as something too 
valuable to be easily cast away. The idea is not, 
thou hast saved a brother from sin and death, 
but thou hast personally gained his brotherly 
affection. The original verb (xeQdalvo)) always 
carries with it the idea of a personal gain. Com- 
pare Matt. 16 : 26 ; 25 : 17, 20, 22 ; Phil. 3 : 7. 

1G. But if he will not hear. Observe, 
not, if you cannot convince, but, if he will not 
hear, i. c, if he refuses to enter into confer- 
ence, in the spirit of concession and concilia- 
tion, so that you cannot thus gain your brother. 
— Then take with thee one or two. 
"I£ possible," says Wesley, wisely, "men whom 
he esteems and loves." — That upon the 
mouth of two or three witnesses every 
word, i. e. between you and him, in your en- 
deavors for a reconciliation, — may be estab- 
lished. Observe the object of this second going. 



It is not, primarily, that they may convince him, 
but that there may be no room to doubt after- 
wards which of you sought reconciliation and 
which of you resisted it. Observe, too, that this 
proceeding is not as a foundation for inflicting 
punishment, but for the sake of the offender's 
amendment and a restoration of fellowship. 

17. And if he shall refuse to hear 
them. Still observe the condition ; not, if he 
refuse to yield to them, but if he refuse to hear, 
i. e. to enter cordially into their and your spirit 
of reconciliation. The same word in the Septua- 
gint in Esther 3:8, is rendered transgress. It 
carries with it the idea of a contemptuous disre- 
gard. — Tell it to the church. That is, to 
the assembly of Christ in which you are in 
fellowship, that they may understand and justify 
your position. On the meaning of the word 
(ixxlrja'itx) here rendered church, see note below, 
and notes on Matt. 16 : 18. — But if he refuse 
to hear the church. If he resists their 
endeavors for a mutual reconciliation between 
the two. — Let him be unto thee. Unto thee, 
not unto the church. There is nothing said here, 
and nothing implied, as to any withdrawal of 
fellowship by the church. It is not even im- 
plied that the offender is in the church. — As a 
heathen man and a publican. With whom 
the Jews had no intercourse (Acts 10 : 2s ; compare 
John 4: 9). There is no suggestion of proceedings 
for punishment, either by the individual or the 
church. The direction is simply tantamount to 
this : If, after all your efforts, you cannot secure 
reconciliation, then you may have nothing more to 
do with him. That Christ does not justify the 
feeling of scorn and hate with which the Jews 
generally regarded the heathen and publican is 
clear from the parable which follows (vs. 21-35). 
But he does recognize the fact that exigencies 
in life sometimes arise which call for a complete 
separation from wilful wrong-doers. 

Op dealing with an offending brother. 
These verses are frequently referred to as con- 
taining " the general principles on which church 
discipline should be carried on." Is this inter- 
pretation correct ? I think not, for the following 
reasons : (a.) At the time these directions were 
given no Christian church was organized, and the 
disciples did not anticipate the organization of 
one. They believed that Christ was about to set 
up a temporal kingdom in which they were to 
share. They could not, therefore, have under- 
stood this to be a rule of ecclesiastical discipline. 
(6.) The word (txxlyala) here rendered church, 
etymologically signifies that which is called out, and 



218 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XVIII. 



18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever 1 ye shall 
bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and what- 
soever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in 
heaven. 



19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall 
agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall 
ask, it b shall be done for them of my Father which is in 
heaven. 



a ch. 16 : 10 ; John 20 : 23 ; Acts 15 : 20-C1 ; 2 Cor. 2 : 10 b Mark 11:21; John 10 ; 24 ; 1 John 5 : 15 



so an assembly, and is so sometimes rendered in 
Our Version (see Acts 19 : S2, 39, 41). In the O. T. 

(Septuagint or Greek version) it represents the 
Great Congress or Jewish Parliament (see note on 
Matt. 16 : is). In the N. T. "the word most fre- 
quently occurs in the Christian sense of an 
assemblage of Christians generally, 1 Cor. 11 : 18," 
(Kitto's Bib. Cyc.) ; see also, Rom. 10 : 5 ; 1 Cor. 
16 : 19. Here, certainly, it indicates not an 
ecclesiastical organization, still less the rulers or 
authorities in such an organization, but an as- 
semblage of the people of God, and is denned by 
verse 20. See note there, (c.) Nowhere else does 
Christ give any rules for the conduct of eccle- 
siastical affairs ; nothing respecting the number 
or nature of church officers, the mode of their 
appointment or election ; their length of service ; 
their authority. It must be regarded as remark- 
able if, leaving all other ecclesiastical questions 
to be determined by his followers, he should give 
particular rules for the determination of disci- 
plinary proceedings in the church, (d.) The 
context relates wholly to personal relations and 
personal duties ; the preceding verses are a 
warning against tempting the weak and feeble 
into sin ; the following verses are an exposition 
of the duty of personal forgiveness. We should 
not naturally look in such connection for rules 
of ecclesiastical procedure, (e.) The language 
throughout is inconsistent with the ecclesiastical 
interpretation. The direction is given, not to the 
church, but to the individual. "If thy brother 
shall trespass against thee; 1 '' the "one or two" 
are to be taken, as witnesses that the individual 
has done all in his power to procure a reconcilia- 
tion ; and the final result, in the case of one 
obstinate in refusing reconciliation, is not church 
action of any kind, but only this, that he is to be 
'■'■unto thee,' 1 '' i. e. to the person with whom he 
refuses to be reconciled, as a heathen and a pub- 
lican. (/.) The heathen and publicans were sub- 
jected to no penalties of any sort in Judea ; 
religious persecution was utterly foreign to the 
spirit of their institutions. The Jews simply had 
no intercourse with them. The command, Let 
him be unto thee as a heathen and a publican, 
does not therefore justify civil penalties or disa- 
bilities of any description, nor call for exclusion 
from the privileges and fellowship of the church, 
nor for any public condemnation or general 
obloquy, nor for any formal act of excommuni- 
cation, or any ecclesiastical pains or penalties. 
It simply justifies the individual Christian in 
ceasing to maintain friendly and personal rela- 



tions with one who, after this triple endeavor, re- 
fuses to live in friendly relations with him. The 
reader will not understand me as denyingthe right 
of the church to discipline members, nor the 
propriety of pursuing the method here indicated 
in the case of church discipline ; but this passage 
has not in my judgment, any direct bearing on 
ecclesiastical proceedings, and certainly does not 
constitute a law for their conduct. But the 
reader ought to be advised that most commen- 
tators take a different view, and regard these 
precepts as directions for the administration of 
ecclesiastical discipline. Lightfoot and Alford 
might perhaps be regarded as exceptions, 
though their views are not very clear. "The 
business here is not so much concerning the cen- 
sure of the person sinning as concerning the 
vindication of the person reproving." — (Lightfoot.) 
"That the church (i7.y.lr\alu) cannot mean the 
church as represented by her rulers, appears by 
verses 19, 20, where any collection of believers is 
gifted with the power of deciding in such cases. 
Nothing could be further from the spirit of our 
Lord's command than proceedings in what were 
oddly enough called ' ecclesiastical ' courts. " — 
(Alford.) 

I understand then Christ's directions here to 
be simply this : If a brother man has wronged 
you, do not give up his brotherly love at once. 
First, try by personal conference to secure recon- 
ciliation ; if he will not be reconciled, take a 
friend or two to witness that you have done what 
you can to be reconciled ; if he refuses to listen 
to them, tell your Christian brethren of the dif- 
ficulty ; and if their intervention is in vain, then 
and only then are you justified in having nothing 
to do with him. In our ordinary intercourse 
with each other, how often we reverse these di- 
rections, say of one who has offended us, I owe 
him no grudge, but I want nothing more to do 
with him, and after our decision tell the church 
and the neighbors our version of the quarrel as 
our justification. "If," says John Wesley, speak- 
ing of Christ's directions here, "if this be the 
way to take, in what land do the Christians live ?" 
Compare with this passage Matt. 5 : 21-26. 

18. Observe that here the power of the keys 
(what that is I have considered in note on Matt. 
15 : 19, which see) is conferred on all the disciples, 
for there is nothing whatever to indicate that the 
promise is not as universally applicable as the di- 
rections given in the preceding verse, and the 
promise in the verses which follow. The term 
heaven here is used as in Matt. 21 : 25, and is 



Ch. XVIII. ] 



MATTHEW 



219 



20 For where two or three are gathered together in 
my name, there am I in the midst of them. 

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft 
shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive" 1 him ? 
till seven times ? 



22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until 
seven times ; but. Until seventy times seven. 

23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto 
a certain king, which would take account 6 oi his 
servants. 



c John 20 , 19 ; 1 Cor. 5:4 tl Mark 11 : 25 ; Luke 17:4; Col. 3 : 13 e Rom. 14 : 12. 



used in the same sense as in that passage, and in 
Matt. 16 : 19, loosed in heaven being nearly equiva- 
lent to loosed by God. The promise may be para- 
phrased thus : Whatever, under the guidance of 
the Spirit of God, you do, shall be ratified by 
your Father in heaven. 

19. Again I say unto you that if two 
of you shall agree. Literally, shall sympho- 
nize or sound together. The original Greek verb 
{acfupiavtia) is one from which comes our word 
symphony, and carries with it a concealed meta- 
phor : Shall accord as musical instruments in 
symphony. — Concerning anything that 
they shall ask. Language could hardly be 
stronger. The Greek is, Concerning everything 
whatsoever ye shall ask. — It shall he done 
for them by my Father. It is impossible to 
reconcile this promise with any theory of prayer 
which denies that prayer is really influential with 
God. Compare with it Matt. 21 : 22 ; Mark 11 : 
24 ; John 14 : 13, 14 ; 15 : 7, 16 ; 16 -.23, 24, which 
Indicate the condition of such prayer as may claim 
this promise. Illustrations of the fulfillment of 
the promise in this and the succeeding verse are 
afforded by Acts 1 : 14 with 2 : 1-4, and Acts 12 : 
5, 12. An illustration of a misapprehension of 
Christ's meaning and of his refusal of a request 
presented by two of the apostles, who were 
agreed, is afforded by Mark 10 : 35. Comparing 
these passages, and I have purposely referred 
only to the words of Jesus, it is evident that his 
promise is not absolute and unconditional, but 
that the fundamental condition of the spirit of 
all true prayer, is implied, viz., trust in and sub- 
mission to the higher will and wisdom of our 
heavenly Father. And indeed this is hinted at 
by the language of this verse, Anything that they 
shall ask, since asking always implies a recogni- 
tion of the right to refuse ; and still more is this 
implied in the verse which follows, which gives 
the reason for the promise. Why shall such 
power be given to the disciples ? Because where 
two or three are gathered in Christ's name he is 
in their midst to inspire and direct their petitions. 
Compare Rom. 8 : 26. 

30. For where two or three are gath- 
ered together in my name. "Not collecting 
themselves promiscuously in their own name, 
or according to their own devices, or for their 
own glory, much less in a spirit of- s trife - and 
division ; but with yearnings of love to me and 
of union with me ; in the manner appointed by 
me. in the unity of my church, and in obedience 



to my law, and for the furtherance of my glory. "— 
( Wordsworth. ) For the meaning of ' ' in my name ' ' 
compare John 14 : 13 ; 15 : 7. Chrysostom's note 
on the connection of the 19th and 20th verses 
with what precedes is important. ''Having de- 
clared the evils consequent on strife, he now dis- 
plays the blessings of unity. They who are of 
one accord do prevail with the Father as touch- 
ing the things they ask, and they have Christ in 
the midst of them."— There am I in the 
midst of them. Compare Matt. 28 : 20. Later 
theology has contrived no better definition of a 
church than this verse affords : The gathering of 
Christ's disciples, united in Christ, and with him in 
their midst. Observe that neither here, nor any- 
where else in the Gospels, is there any implication 
that his being in the midst of such an assembly, 
bringing with him the powers conferred here in 
verse 18, and in Matt. 28 : 19, 20, to baptize and 
preach, is dependent upon any church order, or- 
dained ministry, apostolic successors, special 
rites, ceremonies, or creeds, or anything of the 
kind. It seems also to me that wherever Christ 
is, there by a reasonable implication is the right 
to proclaim him, whether by words, as in preach- 
ing, or by rites and symbols, as by baptism and 
the Lord's Supper. 

Ch. 18 : 21-35. PARABLE OF THE UNMERCIFUL 
SERVANT. — The duty or forgiveness; the nature 

OP FORGIVENESS ; THE MOTIVE OF FORGIVENESS. — See 

Thoughts below. 

21-22. Then came Peter to him. For 

further instruction as to the duty of forgiveness 
inculcated in the preceding verses. He wanted a 
specific rule limiting the obligation of forgiveness. 
The Rabbis limited it to three repetitions of an 
offence. Peter, with a glimmering idea that the 
rule should be enlarged, proposed seven as the 
limit. Christ's reply "seventy times seven" 
(not as James Morison, and some others, seventy- 
seven) refuses to assign any limit. Living in a 
kingdom of grace, we are to exercise it as we de- 
pend upon it, without limitation. On the mean- 
ing of the word forgive (at/iiij.m), see note on 
Matt. 6 : 12. 

23. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven 
likened. Therefore, i. e. because it is a kingdom 
of forgiveness, founded on the forgiveness of 
God to us, the unforgiving cannot abide in it. 
"As certainly as there is no kingdom of God 
without the forgiveness which we receive, so cer- 
tainly there is no kingdom of God without the 



220 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XVIII. 



24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was 
brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand tal- 
ents': 

25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord com- 
manded him to be sold, f and his wife, and children, and 
all that he had, and payment to be made. 



26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped 
him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will 
pay thee all. 

27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with 
compassion,^ and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. 

28 But the same servant went out, and found one of 



f 2 Kings 4:1; Isa. 50 : 1 g Ps. 78 : 88. 



forgiveness which we bestow." — (Draseke.) — 
Unto a certain king. Literally, a man, a king. 
And because any comparison of the divine king- 
dom with the human, kingdom is and must be 
imperfect, this parable must not be pressed in 
details, as has been done by some commentators. 
— Which would take account of his ser- 
vants. The Greek (Juvloc) signifies primarily 
slaves, but not so here, for the debtor was to be 
sold into slavery to pay the debt. In an Oriental 
despotism the subordinates of a king are in fact, 
though not in form, his slaves, their property and 
life being subject to his will. By the servant men- 
tioned in the next verse Christ depicts, I judge, 
the chief of some province, who has defaulted in 
his accounts. The account-taking does not an- 
swer to the last judgment, for after that there is 
no opportunity for the condemned to exercise or 
abstain from mercy to his fellows. Arnot gives 
the true interpretation well : "So the King Eter- 
nal in various ways, and at various periods, takes 
account of men, especially of those who know 
his word, and belong externally to his church, ' ' as 
by " a commercial crisis, a personal affliction, a 
revival," or, let me add, those heart-searchings 
that come without explicable cause on almost all 
men at some period in their life. 

24. One was brought to him. He did 
not come willingly. — Which owed him ten 
thousand talents. The talent was a weight, 
not a coin ; the value it represented would there- 
fore necessarily depend upon the purity of the 
coinage. The Hebrew (silver) talent is variously 
estimated from $1500 to $3250, the gold talent as 
high as $55,000. Ten thousand is used in the 
N. T. as a general expression for a great number 
(i Cor. 4 : is; 14: 19). The original might be rendered 
here innumerable. The Sinaitic MSS. has simply 
"many" {nolvc). Trench affords illustrations of 
the amount indicated, by comparing it with other 
sums mentioned in the Scripture and in secular 
history. 10,000 talents is the amount which Ha- 
inan estimated would be derived from the de- 
struction of the whole Jewish people (Esther 3 : 9). 
In the construction of the tabernacle 29 talents 
of gold were used (Exod. 38 : 24) ; David prepared 
for the temple 3000 talents of gold, and the 
princes 5000 (1 chron. 29 : 4-7) ; the queen of Sheba 
presented to Solomon 120 talents (1 Kings 10 1 10) ; 
the king of Assyria laid upon Hezekiah 30 talents 
of gold (2 Kings 18 : 14) ; and in the extreme impover- 
ishment to which the land was brought at the 



last, 1 talent of gold was laid upon it by the king 
of Egypt (2 chron. 36 : 3). Harpalus, satrap of Ba- 
bylonia and Syria, carried off with him 5000 tal- 
ents when he fled to Athens from the wrath of 
Alexander. With 10,000 talents Darius sought 
to buy off Alexander from prosecuting his cam- 
paign in Asia. The same sum was imposed as a 
fine by the Romans on Antiochus the Great after 
his defeat. Alexander the Great, at Susa, paid 
the debts of the whole Macedonian army with 
20,000 talents. The amount here represents the 
magnitude of the debt which the sinner owes to 
God, and the hopelessness of ever paying it. 
For interpretation of the metaphor of debt, here 
and elsewhere in N. T. employed, Bee Matt. 6 : 
12, and note. 

25. Had not to pay. Equivalent to, had 
nothing with which to pay. Compare Luke 7 : 42. 
The implication is plain ; man has nothing with 
which to make good his accounts with God. — 
His Lord commanded him to be sold. 
Apparently the debtor could be sold for debt 
under Jewish law (Lev. 25 : 39) and perhaps his 

family With him (verso 41 ; compare 2 Kings 4:1; Neh. 5 : 7, 

8; Isaiah 50:1; Amos 2:6; 8:6). Under the denun- 
ciations of the practice by the later prophets this 
selling of debtors disappeared from Judea. The 
imagery of the parable is probably taken from 
Oriental despotisms, where the rights of the indi- 
vidual are utterly ignored. It cannot be spirit- 
ually applied. We sell ourselves to sin, but are 
ransomed from the voluntary servitude by God 

(Rom. 6 : 16-18). 

26. Worshipped him. Did him reverence. 
See Matt. 2 : 2, and 8 : 2 and notes. Observe, how- 
ever, that it is not said that the other servant 
worshipped his fellow-servant. — Lord, have 
patience with me and I will pay thee 
all. A promise impossible of fulfilment. Luther 
explains this as the voice of mistaken self-right- 
eousness. Trench regards it simply as " charac- 
teristic of the extreme fear and anguish of the 
moment." Observe, there is no confession of 
wrong, no appeal for help. The experience 
typified is not that of penitence, but only of fear. 
It is interpreted by the histories of Pharaoh 

(Exod. 9 : 27, 28 ; 10 : 16, 17, etc.), Saul (l Sam. 15 : 24, 25, 30), 

Ahab (i Kings 21 : 27), Belshazzar (Dan. 5 : 9), and Felix 

(Acts 24 : 25). 

27. Observe, how much greater the gift than 
the request. Compare Ephes. 3 : 20. The fact that 
the king grants a remission of the debt, yet sub- 



Oh. XVIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



221 



his fellowservants which owed him an hundred pence ; 
and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, 
saying, Pay me that thou owest. 

29 And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and 
besought him, saying, Have h patience with me, and I 
will pay thee all. 

30 And he would not ; but went and cast him into 
prison, till he should pay the debt. 

31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, 
they were very sorry, and came and told unto their 
lord all that was done. 



32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said 
unto him, O thou wicked servant,' I forgave thee all 
that debt, because thou desiredst me : 

33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on 
thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee ? 

34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the 
tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto 
him. 

35 Soi likewise shall my heavenly Father do also 
unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one 
his brother their trespasses. 



h verse 26 i Lake 19 : 22. . . .j ch. 0:12; Prov. 21 : 13 ; Jas. 2 : 13. 



sequently enforces its payment (verse 34), has occa- 
sioned the commentators some perplexity. But 
this accords with Oriental despotism, which 
would recognize in such a remission nothing that 
could not be revoked at will ; and it accords with 
the divine pardon, which is offered to all the 
world, but is effectual only to such as accept it. 
And he who refuses to bestow grace refuses by 
that act to enter the kingdom of grace. The very 
object of this parable is to show that every man 
must choose between mercy and justice. 

28. Went out. "He is said to go out, 
because in the actual presence of his lord he 
could scarcely have ventured on the outrage 
which follows." — (Trench.) Amot gives the spir- 
itual interpretation well. "The moment of close 
dealing between God and the soul has passed. 
The man goes out from that solemn and searching 
communion. He has not been converted ; he has 
only been frightened." — A hundred pence, 
i. e. denarii, a small silver coin equal to about 18 
cents. The debt, therefore, was equal to S18. 
The contrast intended between our sins against 
God and our neighbors' sins against us is clear. 
"Though thou continually pardon thy neighbor 
absolutely, for all his sins, as a drop of water to 
an endless sea, so much, or rather much more, 
doth thy love to man come short in comparison 
with the boundless goodness of God, of which 
thou standest in need."— (Clirysostom.)— Laid 
hands on him and took him by the 
throat, saying, Pay me if thou owest 
anything. This (it ri not on) is the proper 
reading. It does not intimate a doubt whether 
anything be due, but is the strong expression 
of one who exacts to the utmost every debt. 
The picture is realized daily in the hardness of 
professing Christians to the unfortunate as well 
as the guilty. " Those who get most mercy give 
the least ; and cruelty is hatched under the 
wings of tenderness." — (Draseke.) 

29, 30. "The one besought for 10,000 
talents, the other for 100 pence; the one his 
fellow-servant, the other his lord ; the one re- 
ceived entire forgiveness, the other asked for 
delay, and not so much as this did he give 
him."— (Chrysostom.) This creditor's sin we 
repeat when we hold resentment against an 



offender until he makes atonement and repara- 
tion. What is this but demanding that he pay 
the debt ? 

31. Were very sorry. But the lord was 
wroth (verse 34). In us sin should awaken, predom- 
inantly, sorrow, which in God awakens indigna- 
tion. — And came and told their lord all. 
The first resort of the Christian against oppression 

is prayer (Exod. 3:7; James 5 : 4). 

32, 33. The lord now calls him "wicked 
servant," and is "wroth" with him; but not 
before. Observe the ground on which Christ 
bases our duty of forgiveness : I forgave thee all 
that debt. "The sin with which he (the servant) 
is charged is, not that needing mercy he refused 
to show it, but that having received mercy he 
remains unmerciful still." — (Trench.) 

34. The picture is interpreted by the usages of 
the East, where torture is used, even at the 
present day, to compel debtors to confess to 
acquisitions which they are suspected of hiding. 
In both Greece and Rome torture was used as a 
punishment and as a means of compelling con- 
fession, but apparently not in prosecutions for 
debt.— Till he should pay all. This cer- 
tainly does not imply, it rather negatives, the 
idea of a future restoration. " When the Pho- 
cseans, abandoning their city, swore that they 
would not return till the mass of iron which they 
plunged into the sea, returned once more upon 
the surface, this was the most emphatic form 
they could devise of declaring that they would 
never return ; such an emphatic declaration is 
the present. "—(Trench.) Similarly Alford : "The 
condition would amount, in the case of the sum 
in the parable, to perpetual imprisonment;" and 
Chrysostom : " That is forever ; for he will never 
repay." 

35. Their trespasses, is omitted from the 
best manuscripts. On the verse, see note on 
Matt. 6 : 12. 

Thoughts on the Parable. I. The parallel. 
The Eternal King constantly calls us to account 
(Luke 16 : s\ in providences and heart-searchings, 
which compel us to confess our inability to meet 

his jUSt demands (Job 25 : 4 ; Psalm 130 : 3 ; 143 : 2 ; Rom. 

3 : 23). On our cry for forbearance he proclaims 
the Gospel of full and free forgiveness (Rom. ^ ■. 24, 



222 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIX. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

AND it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished 
these saying, he departed" from Galilee, and came 
into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan : 

2 And great multitudes followed him ; and he healed 
them there. 

3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, 



and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away 
his wife for every cause ? 

4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not 
read, that he 1 which made them at the beginning, made 
them male and female, 

5 And said, For m this cause shall a man leave father 
and mother, and shall cleave to his wife ; and they 
twain shall be one flesh ? 



k Mark 10 : 1 ; John 10 : 40. . . .1 Gen. 1 : 27 ; 5 : 2 ; Mai. 2 : 15. . . .m Gen. 2 : 24 ; Eph. 5 : 31. 



25 ; i John i : 8, 9) ; so soon as we go out f rom the 
consciousness of the divine examination we forget 
that we depend on mercy, and become inexorable 
and exacting to our fellow-men. Thus we prove 
ourselves no citizens of the kingdom of grace, 
and call down upon ourselves the same justice 
we have 'meted out to others. II. The lessons. 
The parable teaches directly : (1) the duty of 
consideration and forbearance toward honest but 
unfortunate debtors, one generally overlooked ; 
(3) the duty of forgiveness, which must be con- 
tinuous and long-suffering (verse 22), full and free, 

like the Lord's (verse 27 ; compare Ephes. 4 : 32, and Matt. 6 : 12 

and note), and from the heart (verse 35) ; but is con- 
sistent with rebuking and convincing of sin (verse 
15), even as the Lord rebukes and convinces us ; 
for verses 15-17 and this parable interpret each 
other, and are to be taken together ; and (3) the 
incentive to forgiveness, viz., the fact that God 
has forgiven us (verse 33). Indirectly, it teaches 
the accountability of every soul to God (verse 23; 
compare John 3 : is) ; the hopelessness of accounting 
to him and our dependence on his forgiving love ; 
the fulness and f reeness of his forgiveness (verse 
27) ; the smallness of all transgressions against us 
compared with ours against God (verse 24 with verse 23); 
the feeling which all uncharitableness should 
awaken in our hearts — sorrow ; the first step we 
should take to redress it — prayer (verse 31) ; and 
consequently patience and self-restraint toward 
the wrong-doer ; and the finality of the last judg- 
ment, and the hopelessness of a future restoration 
for those who, by their conduct in this life, have 
cast away God's mercy (verse 34). More than this 
it appears to me cannot be fairly deduced from 
the parable. Its great lesson is well summed up 
by Chrysostom : " Two things doth Christ require 
here ; both to condemn ourselves for our sins 
and to forgive others ; and the former for the 
sake of the latter." 



Ch. 19 : 1, 2. Mission m Perea. The 
harmony of the three Gospels, at this point, be- 
comes peculiarly difficult. The most probable 
opinion appears to be this : Christ left Galilee 
and went up to Jerusalem, where he prosecuted 
the ministry described in John, chaps. 7 — 10 ; from 
the mob at Jerusalem he escaped to Perea, that 
part of the Holy Land east of the Jordan, whose 
ministry is described in general terms by these 
two verses, and by the parallel ones in Mark 10 : 



1, and 10 : 40-43. Of this ministry, Luke gives 
the only full account, in chaps. 14 — 18 ; but the in- 
cidents and instructions here, and in the next 
chapter to verse 16, probably belong to the 
Perean ministry. See Harmony in Introduction. 
If this opinion be correct, a number of months 
elapsed between the close of the last chapter 
and the beginning of this. 

Ch. 19 : 3-12. CHRIST'S LAW OF MARRIAGE AUD 
DIVORCE.— The origin of mabbiage — divine ; the 

NATUEE OF MABBIAGE— ONE LIFE IN THE FLESH ; THE 
DUEATION OF MABBIAGE — THE LIFETIME ; FOB WHOM 
MABBIAGE IS INTENDED — THE WHOLE HUMAN BACE ; 
THE THREE EXCEPTIONS TO THE GENERAL LAW OF MAB- 
BIAGE— (1) THOSE CONGENITALLT INCAPACITATED; (2) 
THOSE AFFLICTED WITH INCAPACITY ; (3) THOSE PRAC- 
TISING VOLUNTARY CONTINENCE FOR RELIGIOUS REA- 
SONS. 

3. Tempting him. Our Lord was in the 
dominion of Herod Antipas, who had slain John 
the Baptist for publicly condemning the tetrarch's 
illegal divorce and illicit marriage. See notes 
on Matt. 14 : 1-12. Perhaps they hoped to 
secure Christ's arrest by Herod. It was possibly 
in this connection that, under pretense of friend- 
ship, they warned him to flee from Herod (Luke 
i3;3i). — For every cause. In Greece, the hus- 
band might dismiss his wife without ceremony ; 
in Rome, either party could dissolve the marriage 
tie at pleasure. No judicial decree, and no inter- 
ference of any public authority, was required 
(Smith' 1 s Dictionary of Antiquity, art. Divortium). 
Cicero dismissed Terentia after thirty years of 
married life. Cato the younger divorced his wife 
that he might give her to a friend. The laws of 
Moses (Deut. 24 : i^) provided that the husband 
might divorce his wife, " because he hath found 
some uncleanness in her," by giving a bill of di- 
vorce setting forth the reason. This must be in 
writing and given in the presence of witnesses 
(see note on Matt. i : 19). Grave discussions had taken 
place among the Rabbis as to the proper inter- 
pretation of this statute. The school of Sham- 
mai denied the right of divorce except for adul- 
tery ; the school of Hillel asserted the utmost 
latituds of divorce. The latter appears to have 
been the prevalent view. " He that desires to be 
divorced from his wife for any cause whatsoever, " 
says Josephus, "and many such cases arise 
among men, let him in writing give assurance that 
he will never use her as his wife any more, for 



Ch. XIX.] 



MATTHEW. 



223 



6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. 
What" therefore God hath joined together, let not man 
put asunder. 

7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then com- 
mand to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her 
away? 

8 He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hard- 
ness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your 
wives : but from the beginning it was not so. 



9 ADd I say unto you, Whosoever" shall put away 
his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry 
another, committeth adultery : and whoso marrieth her 
which is put away doth commit adultery. 

io His disciples say unto him, If the case of a man 
be so with his wile, it is not good to marry. 

ii But he said unto them, All men cannot receive 
this saying, save they to whom it is given. 

12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born 



n 1 Cor. 7 : 10 o Deut. "4:1; Isa. 50 : 1 p cti. 5 : 32 ; Luke 16 : 18 q Prov. 19 : 13 ; 21 : 9, 19. 



by these means she will be at liberty to marry 
another husband."— (Ant. IV : 8, § 23.) 

4-6. Mark says he first asked them, What did 
Moses command you ? they replied by a refer- 
ence to Deut. 24 : 1-4 ; he then quoted the ac- 
count of the creation and the contemporaneous 
institution of marriage. The two versions are 
not inconsistent. Thus we may suppose that 
Christ referred them to Moses' law, meaning the 
original law given in Genesis ; they replied by re- 
ferring to the later statute in Deuteronomy ; he 
then explained his original question, What did 
Moses command you ? by referring them distinct- 
ly to Genesis ; whereupon, as represented here 
(verse 7), they asked his explanation of Deut. 24 : 
1-4. For the interpretation of Christ's argument, 
see note below. Observe, however, here, how 
he who came to fulfill the law (Matt, a ■. 1-), in this 
case goes back of the permission of the civil law, 
enacted because of the hardness of the people's 
hearts, to the original and divine intent of mar- 
riage, as interpreted in the very act of creation. 

Made them male and female, i. c, in the 
very act of creation, God embodied the idea of 
marriage. Observe how the unity of the two is 
implied in the language of Genesis. "In the image 
of God created he him ; male and female created 
he them" (Gen. 1 : 27). And again, "Male and 
female created he them ; and blessed them, and 
called their name Adam (Gen. 5 : 2). — And said 
(Gen. 2 : 24). This was said not by Adam, as Alf ord, 
but by the inspired historian, and is his divinely 
inspired conclusion from the whole account of 
creation. — Shall be one flesh. That is, as 
Stier, " one within the limits of their united life 
in the flesh, for this world ; beyond this limit the 
marriage is broken by the death of the flesh." 
The Greek and Roman idea of marriage, was a 
union of feeling and affection ; hence it was dis- 
soluble at the will of the parties, when that union 
was severed by incompatibility or contention. 
And this philosophy underlies the modern free 
divorce idea, miscalled free-love. According to 
Scripture, however, marriage consists not in the 
unity of the spirit and soul, but in the fact that 
the wedded pair become one flesh, i. e. one in their 
earthly relations and life. Hence marriage ceases 
at death (Matt. 22 : 30), though the spiritual union 
does not ; hence, too, the earthly relation may be 
formed where there is no union of soul, as with 



a harlot (1 Cor. 6 : is). Hence it is not dissoluble by 
a mere cessation of mutual sympathy, any more 
than the blood relations of brother and sister, or 
father and child, can be so dissolved. The one 
relation is as permanent as the other, though one 
is formed voluntarily, the other involuntarily. — 
What therefore God has joined together 
let not man put asunder. This is not, as 
often quoted, equivalent to Tliose whom, by his 
blessing on the marriage, God has joined to- 
gether, but, as the context shows, Since God, in 
the very act of creation, showed the divine pur- 
pose to be the joining in one earthly life of male 
and female, let not man, by his act, break or 
loosen the bond. 

7-8. See note on verse 3 above. The reference 
is to Deut. 24 : 1-4. For other O. T. laws bear- 
ing on this subject see Deut. 22 : 21-33 ; Numb. 
ch. 5 ; compare note on Matt. 1 : 19. Observe the 
difference between the Pharisees' language and 
Christ's. They ask, Why then did Moses com- 
mand? He replies, Moses suffered. The original 
Greek verb (iTtitoirtia), rendered swrJeraZ, is literally 
"throw upon," i. e. he throws upon you the re- 
sponsibility of breaking the divine bond, because 
the hardness of your hearts rendered it impossi- 
ble to enforce it by civil legislation. This verse is 
a key to much of the Mosaic legislation, which 
did not reflect the divine will concerning human 
character and condition, but only so much of the 
divine will as could be enforced by civil govern- 
ment. Some commentators regard the phrase, 
hardness of your hearts, equivalent to harshness in 
the marriage relations. The more general sense 
of sinfulness appears preferable. The Greek 
compound word (n/.li]ooy.ao3la) occurs only here 
and in Mark 10 : 5, and 10 : 14. 

9. These words were uttered by Christ to his 
disciples alone in the house (Mark 10 : 10-12). They 
are so explicit that it appears amazing that any 
who accept Christ's authority should have at- 
tempted to explain them away. Fornication 
(notntiu) is properly not merely adultery, but 
harlotry. So Milton ; and his labored attempt to 
prove that any ineradicable incompatibility is a 
just cause of divorce renders his testimony all 
the more important : "In the Greek and Latin 
sense, by fornication is meant the common pros- 
titution of the body for sale." The word forni- 
cation (Latin fornication) is derived from fornix, a 



224 



MATTHEW 



[Ch. XIX. 



from their mother's womb : and there are some eu- 
nuchs, which were made eunuchs ot men : and there 
be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for 



the kingdom of heaven's sake. 1 He that is able to re- 
ceive it, let him receive it. 
13 Then were there brought unto him little children, 



harlot, primarily a cell or vault, such being the 
customary abodes of the harlots of Rome. That 
the Greek word (rtotjvtlq) signifies properly har- 
lotry is equally evident from its derivative (rtoqvti) 
a harlot, and that it is not merely synonymous 
with adultery (/.loi/etu) is clear from its use in 
conjunction with that word in the N. T. (e. g. 
Matt. 15 : 19 ; Mark 7 : 21). I would not press this dif- 
ference here except to point out that Christ in 
giving the law, which is not for the state but for 
the individual disciple, does not in words even 
recognize adultery, except in its grossest forms, 
as a ground adequate for dissolving the marriage 
tie. Milton refers to the metaphorical use of 
fornication in the Scripture to designate unfaith- 
fulness tOWai'd God (Numbers 15: 39 ; Psalm 73 : 26, 27; Jer. 

3 : 6-13), as an evidence that wilful disobedience 
or distrust or " intractable carriage of the wife to 
the husband " is a Scriptural cause of separation. 
Rather it stamps on all alienation from God, and 
joining to idols or the world, God's severest con- 
demnation. But Milton's tracts on this subject 
are marvels of theological special pleading. I 
should rather draw from Jer. 3 : 14 a lesson of 
the duty of husband or wife, to endeavor at first 
to reclaim even an unfaithful spouse, bsfore 
seeking divorce. To suppose that lustful imagi- 
nations, which are denned by Christ in Matt. 5 : 
28 as adultery in the heart, is included in the for- 
nication here indicated as a ground of divorce, is 
to take away from this passage all significance. 
How can we judge of the imaginations of anoth- 
er's heart ? 

And whoso marrieth the divorced doth 
commit adultsry. There is some doubt 
whether these words have not been added. 
Tischendorf omits them ; Alford retains them. 
The same principle is however enunciated in 
Matt. 5 : 33 and Luke 10 : 18, where the reading 
is undoubted. Does this forbid the marriage of 
the innocent party after separation on account of 
fornication? The Roman Catholic church for- 
bids such marriage ; the Protestant and Greek 
churches allow it. Christ appears to me to 
condemn only (1) marriage to any one who has 
been divorced for any other reason than fornica- 
tion ; or (3) divorced for his or her own infidelity. 
The principle, and indeed the language, applies 
equally to either sex. 

10. If marriage is truly for better for worse, 
if from it there is no release, then the disciples 
think one had better not take the hazard of it. 
They express in words what some express by 
their lives. 



11. Not all ean receive this saying, i. e., 

your saying, It is not good to marry. — Save 
to whom it has been given. The tense in- 
dicates not a gift to be bestowed, but that has 
been bestowed ; and the reference is not to spir- 
itual grace of self-restraint, to be given to the 
saint in answer to prayer, but to a native consti- 
tutional character belonging to the few, who 
therefore are not impelled to marriage. 

12. The Lord distinguishes three classes who 
would receive this saying, and would abstain 
from marriage : (1) those incapacitated from 
birth for the marriage relation ; (2) those inca- 
pacitated by subsequent action of men ; this 
incapacity being in the East inflicted, sometimes 
as a punishment, sometimes on servants, who 
were in consequence admitted to the harem, 
from which all other men were excluded ; (3) 
those who, in order to better perform special 
work in the kingdom of God, voluntarily practise 
absolute continence. For it is impossible to 
believe that Christ means that a literal self-muti- 
lation can ever be a religious act ; though Origen 
is said to have so understood the passage, and in 
his youth to have "committed the unnatural 
deed which forever disqualified him for mar- 
riage." (Schaff in Lange on Matt. 19 :12.) The 
passage certainly does imply that celibacy may be in 
certain exigencies and certain individuals a virtue, 
practised for good reason for the sake of better 
serving in the kingdom of God ; it as certainly 
does not imply any general duty of celibacy in any 
class, or that the celibate's spiritual condition is, 
by reason of his celibacy, higher than that of 
others. On the contrary, it implies that marriage 
is the rule and celibacy is the exception. The 
priests of the O. T. married ; Peter certainly, 
other of the apostles probably, were married ; 
marriage is employed in both O. T. and N. T. as 
the type of God's union with his people ; and 
forbidding to marry is declared to be character- 
istic of the apostacy of later times. The student 
may consult to advantage the following passages 
as bearing on this subject : Lev. 21 : 14 ; Matt. 
8 : 14; Acts 21 : 8, 9 ; 1 Cor. 7 : 1, 2 ; 9 : 5 ; 1 Tim. 
3 : 2 ; 4 : 3 ; Heb. 13 : 4. 

Op Chbist's Law of Divorce. In considering 
the significance of this passage it must be re- 
membered that Christ, neither here nor any- 
where else, propounds laws for the state, but, in 
contrast with the laws of Moses, principles for 

the individual diSCiple (see notes on Matt. 5 : 17,37, 42). 

Only by implication can any rules for incorpora- 
tion in civil legislation be deduced from this 



Ch. XIX.] 



MATTHEW. 



225 



that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and 
the disciples rebuked them. 

14 But Jesus said, Suffer 1 little children, and forbid 
them not, to come unto me ; for of such 1 is the kingdom 
of heaven. 



15 And he laid his hands on them, and departed 
thence. 

16 And behold, one came, and said unto him, Good 
Master, what good" thing snail I do, that I may have 
eternal life ? 



a Mark 10 : 14 ; Luke 18 : 10, etc t ch. 18 : S u Mark 10 ; 17 ; Luke 10 : 25 ; 18 : 18. 



passage. Bearing this in mind the course of 
Christ's argument may be thus summed up : 
God instituted marriage in the act and by the 
very fact of creation, in that he made man male 
and female, and ordained them to live together 
as one flesh, i. e. in one confluent earthly life. 
This ideal was never realized ; and Moses, adapt- 
ing his civil laws to the actual condition of the 
Jews, did not attempt by civil penalties to pro- 
hibit the dissolution of the marriage tie, but 
threw on them the responsibility of dissolving it, 
subject to certain conditions, enacted for the 
better protection of the wife. This civil law does 
not modify the obligation of the original divine 
institution, which forbids any child of God from 
sundering the marriage tie except for the one 
crime of adultery. For most marriage is desira- 
ble ; the only exceptions being those who are by 
nature or by subsequent maltreatment incapaci- 
tated, or who practise celibacy for special reli- 
gious reasons. Modern legislation may perhaps, 
' ' because of the hardness of men' s hearts, ' ' permit 
a legal separation for other causes than adultery ; 
for it is the primary function of the State not to 
make men conform to the divine ideal, but to 
restrain them in so far as is necessary for mutual 
protection ; but the true Christian can never per- 
mit it for himself. His duty is always patience, 
gentleness, forbearance. 

Ch. 19 : 13-15. CHRIST BLESSES LITTLE CHILDREN. 
—Christ's love fob children.— The children's 
love for Christ (Mark 10 : 16). — The right of bring- 
ing children to Christ. — The sin of hindering 
their coming, by word or example.— The condition 
of entering the kingdom of heaven : a child-like 
spirit (Mark 10 : 15). 

Mark 10 : 13-16, and Luke 18 : 15-17 give some 
additional particulars. Compare with this inci- 
dent Matt. 18 : 1-4 and notes there. It is a sug- 
gestive if not a significant fact that this blessing 
of little children follows immediately after the 
above discussion concerning marriage. 

13. Little children. Luke says infants. 
The English reader will get the true significance 
by comparing the following passages, where the 
same Greek word (/}p4</>o?) is used, as that ren- 
dered infants in Luke : Luke 2 : 13, 16 ; Acts 7 : 
19 ; 2 Tim. 3 : 15 ; 1 Pet. 2:2. It is evident from 
a comparison of these passages that children too 
young to receive instruction, or to understand 
what was being done for them, were included 
among the "little children" brought to Jesus. 



There is not the least reason to suppose that they 
were brought to be healed. Lange says that it 
was customary for children to be brought to the 
presidents of the synagogues for blessing. To 
the disciples this seemed a superstitious fancy, 
and an intrusion on the more serious labors of 
our Lord. 

14. But Jesus said. Mark adds that ho 
was much displeased. — Let the little children 
alone, and hinder them not from com- 
ing to me. The language of rebuke in the 
original is stronger than in our version. The 
above rendering may help to give to the English 
reader its tone. For the meaning of the word here 
rendered suffer (acpitjui), the student may advan- 
tageously compare Mark 14 : 6 ; 15 : 36 ; John 
12 : 7, where the verb is the same. — For of such 
is the kingdom of heaven. Not merely of 
those who possess a child-like disposition, though 
this is included, and is expressly stated in 
Mark and Luke, "Whosoever shall not receive 
the kingdom of God as a little child shall not 
enter therein;" but of such little children, both 
because out of them grow up the citizens of that 
kingdom, and because they are themselves, in 
their childhood, members of it. — Kingdom of 
God is certainly not here equivalent to church, 
as Mr. Barnes asserts, if by that he means the 
ecclesiastical organization. Does Christ mean, 
by his next sentence, as reported in Mark 10 : 15, 
that the adult must receive the church as a 
little child in order to be received into it? 
Christ's meaning is interpreted by his language 
in Matt. 12 : 30 (see note there). There are two 
kingdoms, one of darkness the other of light, one 
of good the other of evil, one of Satan the other 
of God, in which every person is of necessity ; for 
there is no third kingdom. The children belong 
in the Lord's kingdom, until they voluntarily de- 
part from it, to enter, by deliberate sin, the 
kingdom of Satan. 

15. Laid hands on them. This was a 
common mode of benediction among the Jews. 
Gen. 48 : 14 ; Numb. 27 : 18 ; Deut. 34 : 9 ; Acts 
8 : 17 ; 19 : 6. 

Note on Christ's blessing of the chil- 
dren. This passage is fragrant with the love of 
Christ for little children, see Mark 10 : 14, "he 
was much displeased;" and their love for him, 
see Mark 10:16, "he took them up in his 
arms;" for little children do not willingly go to 
every stranger. It teaches (1) his sympathy for 
and with children ; (2) our right to bring children 



226 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XIX. 



17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good ? 
there is none good but one, that is, God : but it thou 
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 



18 He saith unto him, Which ? Jesus said, Thou, 
shalt" do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, 
Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness • 



v Exod. 20 : 13 : Deut. 5 : 17, etc. 



to him for blessing, and this before they can un- 
derstand anything concerning him or his truth ; 
(3) that they are members of Christ's kingdom, 
are so regarded by him, and are to be so regarded 
by us, and this irrespective of any parental faith, for 
there is no declaration here of parental faith, nor 
is it even stated that these children were brought 
by their parents, much less that they were re- 
ceived for their parents' sake ; (4) that such as 
die before they have wandered out of God's 
kingdom into the kingdom of Satan are certainly 
saved, since they are "of the kingdom of 
heaven ;" (5) as Alford, that " not only may the 
little infants be brought to him, but in order for 
us who are mature to come to him, we must 
cast away all ( ? ) that wherein our maturity has 
caused us to differ from them and become like 

them " (compare, however, Matt. 18 : 1-4 and notes there) ; and 

(C) it condemns all conduct on the part of the 
church, the teacher, or the parent, which tends 
to repress, chill, or check the enthusiasm of 
childhood for Christ and darken its simple faith 
in him. But it certainly does not teach (1) that 
children are by nature, and without a spiritual 
change, true children of God, in the face of such 
explicit declarations as John 3 : 5, 6 ; nor (2), 
except by a very doubtful implication, that they 
should be members of the visible earthly church ; 
nor (3) that they are proper subjects of baptism. 
The last is argued for by Alford. But surely the 
question whether the rite of baptism is properly 
employed for the consecration of children, or 
only as a symbol of self-consecration, is not in 
the remotest degree touched on here. 

Ch. 19 : 1G-22. THE RICH YOUNG RDLER.— The gbbat 
question: what shall I DO to inherit eternal 
life? — The universal consciousness which en- 
forces it : the consciousness of spiritual lack. — 
The divine answer : forsake all and follow me 
(Luke 14 • 33).— See Lessons below. 

This incident is recounted also in Mark 10 : 
17-32 and Luke 18 : 18-23. The three accounts 
should be carefully compared by the student. 
The time and place are uncertain ; probably in 
Perea, on Christ's last journey' to Jerusalem. 
The instructions which follow, in Matt. 20 : 16, 
are called forth by this incident, and should be 
studied in connection with it. 

16. And behold one. A young man (verse 
20) and a ruler (Luke), i. e. probably of a syna- 
gogue. See for description of office, Matt. 4 : 24. — 
That I may have eternal life. The form of 
his question indicates that he had been an auditor 
of Jesus Christ, and that the Master's teachings 



had taken deep hold on him. He asks not for 
the kingdom of heaven, which might mean an 
earthly kingdom, but for eternal life, which cer- 
tainly includes the idea of immortality beyond 
the grave. 

17. Why callest thou me good ; none 
good but one, God. The Sinaitic and Vatican 
with some other manuscripts have here, WJiy askest 
thou me concerning the good ; one is the good. This 
reading is adopted by Alford, De Wette, Meyer, 
Olshausen, Lange, Schaff, indeed by most schol- 
ars, and is sustained by Griesbach, Tischendorf, 
Lachmann, and Tregelles. In the face of such 
unanimity I hesitate to express a doubt. But I 
am not convinced that the reading of the Re- 
ceived Text is erroneous. For (1) Mark and 
Luke have the question as we have it in our 
English version, and there is no variation of 
reading in their accounts. We must then either 
suppose that Matthew has misreported the inci- 
dent, or that Christ asked the double question, 
" Why askest thou me concerning the good ? 
One is the Good. Why callest thou me good ? 
None is good but one, God." And in spite of 
some attempt (see Schaff in Lange) to make this 
appear reasonable, I think it will strike the or- 
dinary reader as forced and artificial. (2.) The 
question, as reported in the modified reading, 
forms no answer to the young man's question. 
This will clearly appear, if we put question and 
answer plainly, as proposed by the modified read- 
ing : — Young man : "What good thing shall I do ?" 
Christ: "Why askest thou me concerning what 
good thou shalt do ? There is only one good 
Being." If this means anything it is, in such a 
connection, an intimation that the effort to be 
good is useless, since God alone is the Good One. 
Dr Brown has shown, and I refer the curious 
student to his pages, that there is at least a re- 
spectable authority for the Received Text ; and 
on the whole, considering that this is the indubi- 
table reading in Mark and Luke, it appears to me 
to be the most probable one. In brief, I incline 
to the opinion that this is one of the very few 
cases in which internal evidence, which is here 
very strong, should be allowed to counterbalance 
external evidence, which is here somewhat con- 
flicting. 

Admitting the reading of the Received Text, 
how are we to interpret it ? Is it true, as claimed 
by some commentators, that Jesus here "dis- 
claims his own title to such a character as many 
of his disciples have attributed to him, that of 
uncreated perfection?" — (Livermore.) This, it 
appears to me, wholly misses the spirit of Christ 



Oh. XIX.] 



MATTHEW. 



227 



ig Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Thou" 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 

20 The young man saith unto him, All these things 
have I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet ? 

21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go 1 



and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
shalt have treasure in heaven : and come and follow' 
me. 

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he 
went away sorrowful : for he had great possessions. 



w Lev. 19 : 18 x Luke 12:33; 10: 0; Acts 2: 45; 4:34,35; 1 Tim. 6 : 18, 19 y John 12 : 



.z 1 Tim. 6 : 9, 10. 



throughout this interview. lie does not rebuke 
the young man for employing what was nothing 
more than the language of respect by any pupil 
to a teacher. The term Master was of itself no 
proof of allegiance. The Pharisees used it. 
(Matt. 12 : 38.) Christ probes the young man's faith 
with a question whose meaning may be thus inter- 
preted. Why call you me Good Master ? There 
is but one Good, namely God. Do you employ 
the phrase as Nicodemus (John 3:2)? or, as the 
twelve disciples, do you recognize in me a divine 
Master in truth, whose word is law '? And to this 
question the young man makes no response. 
Then Christ probes him with a second test. 
To those who see in this question a repudia- 
tion of the divinity of Jesus Christ, Stier replies, 
"Either, There is none good, but God; Christ 
is good ; therefore Christ is God ; or, There is 
none good, but God ; Christ is not God ; there- 
fore Christ is not good." There is no answer 
to this but to deny the sinlessness of Christ. — 
If thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
commandments. The Greek verb rendered 
keep (tijoiw) carries with it the idea of watch- 
fulness ; keep, as one keeps a prisoner committed 
to his charge. Compare Matt. 27 : 36, 54, and 
Prov. 4 : 33, where the verb is the same. 

18. He saith unto him, Which i Jesus 
saith unto him, The following. Observe, 
Christ only mentions the laws which govern 
men's relations to each other. There is nothing 
said of the first four of the ten commandments, 
nothing of, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. 
Does Christ then teach that obedience to the 
moral law, without love for God, or faith in him, 
suffices for eternal life ? To so read his words 
would be to miss their whole spirit. He throws 
the young man back upon himself, compels him 
to give the inventory of his own moral goodness, 
and then to confess his own sense of lack. An 
ordinary teacher would have endeavored to con- 
vince him of his need ; Christ compels him to 
confess it. 

20. All these things have I kept. Not 
the language of self-conceit, for Mark adds that 
" Jesus beholding him loved him," but the sin- 
cere expression of one who had carefully ob- 
served the requirements of the moral law, and 
judging of his life from his own standpoint, could 
see in it no specific disobedience. He is thus the 
type of a very common character, one which is 
scrupulous in life, yet finds no true peace of 
mind in obedience. Compare for parallel, Paul's 



experience in Phil. 3 : 4-6. — From my youth 

up. These words are omitted by the best manu- 
scripts, and by Alford and Tischendorf. — What 
lack I yet ? For parallel to this experience 
and interpretation of it see Luke 15 : 14 ; for 
Scripture answer to it see Rom. 3 : 23, and Heb. 
12 : 15. The Greek scholar will observe that the 
verb rendered in these passages respectively 
lack, to be in want, come short, and fail, is the 
same (uotcoica). 

21. In considering the practical lesson of this 
direction bear in mind, (1) its connection, well 
given by Lord Bacon, "But sell not all that thou 
hast, except thou come and follow me ; that is, 
except thou have a vocation, wherein thou may- 
est do as much good with little means, as with 
great." (2.) The fact that the test was not an 
unusual one. The disciples had abandoned their 

all tO follow Christ (Matt. 4 : 22 ; 9:9; 19 : 27). If this 

ruler was to be with them he must bs one of them, 
in his voluntary poverty. (3.) The principle, 
which is for all time. Not all disciples are re- 
quired to abandon their property, any more than 
all are required to abandon their business with 
James and John and Matthew (l Cor. 7 : it, 20, 24) ; 
but all are required to hold their property and 
use their industry for Christ, and subject to his 
orders, as interpreted by his providence, and for 
both be ready to give him an account (Matt. 25 : 
14-30). There is nothing in the incident, fairly 
interpreted, to justify the assertion that Christ 
condemns the possession or the acquisition of 
wealth. 

22. He went away sorrowful. Mark 
expresses very graphically, in the original, the 
change in his countenance. But he, saddened at 
the saying, went away grieved. This young man is 
never referred to again in the N. T. ; for the con- 
jecture that he is to be identified with Lazarus is 
certainly without evidence, it appears to me with- 
out probability. That he may have subsequently 
become a disciple is possible ; there is no intima- 
tion of such a result in the N. T. 

Lessons of the incident. They he in a 
consideration of the character, consciousness, and 
lack of this young man. In character he was ex- 
emplary (verse 20), loveable (Mark io : 21), with reli- 
gious culture and position (Lake 18 : is), and he was 
an earnest, reverential seeker, in public, of 
eternal life, from Christ (com P . Mark 10 : a). His 
consciousness was of a lack, which neither wealth, 
honors, amiability, moral life, religious education, 
position and labors, nor all combined, could 



228 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XIX. 



23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say 
unto you, That 2 a rich man shall hardly enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. 

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel 
to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man 
to enter into the kingdom of God. 

25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceeding- 
ly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved ? 

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With 
men this is impossible ; but with" God all things are 
possible. 



27 Then answered" Peter, and said unto him. Behold, 
we have forsaken all, c and followed thee : what shall 
we have therefore ? 

28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, 
That ye which have followed me, in the regeneraiion, 
when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, 
ye d also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the 
twelve tribes of Israel. 

29 And 6 every one that hath forsaken houses, or 
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or 



z 1 Tim. 6 : 9, 10....a Ps. 3 : 8; 62 : 11 ; Zech. 8:6 b Mark 10 : 28 ; Luke 18 : 28.... c Phil. 3:8 d ch. 20: 21 ; Luke 22 : 28-30; 

1 Cor. 6 : 2, 3 ; Rev. 2 : 26 e Mark 10 : 29, 30 ; Luke 18 ; 29, 30 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 9. 



satisfy. His lack was the love and faith that holds 
all things as from God (james 1 : 17), uses all for 
God (Matt. 25 : i4-3c), and oheys the divine command 
whithersoever it leads. Lacking this " one thing 
needful," he lacked all, and went away sor- 
rowful. 

Ch. 19 : 23-30. DISCOURSE CONCERHIKG RICHES.- 
Earthly wealth a hindrance to heavenly glory. 
— The impossible with man not difficult with 
God.— The Christian's recompense. 

The rest of this chapter and the parable which 
constitutes the first sixteen verses of the chapter 
following, are closely connected, and constitute 
one discourse, growing out of the preceding 
incident. Parallel to this chapter, to its close, 
are Mark 10 : 23-31, and Luke 18 : 24-30. 

23-26. With these verses should be carefully 
compared Mark 10 : 23-26. From this comparison 
it appears that Christ, seeing the young man go 
away sorrowful, says, as here, A rich man shall 
hardly, i. e. with difficulty, enter the kingdom of 
heaven. The disciples express their astonish- 
ment at this saying, as the world has since, 
and Christ at once repeats and interprets it 
(Mark 10 : 24), Children, how hard is it for 
them that trust in riches to enter into the 
kingdom of God. Then follows the emphatic 
metaphor of verse 24 here (Mark 10 : 25) : It is 
easier for a camel to go through the eye of 
a needle than for a rich man (i. e. as already 
explained, one who trusts in riches), to enter 
into the kingdom of God. The apostles' 
question, which follows, Who then can be 
saved? (verse 25) is not equivalent to, If it is 
w hard for the rich, how can the poor enter? 
but, Since, though few men are rich, all men 
trust in riches, i. e. have faith in them, how 
can any enter. Observe the emphatic teaching 
of verse 26, that salvation is with men impos- 
sible, i. e. by the power of men (compare John 
1 : 13), and the strong assertion that the salva- 
tion of all, even by implication of those who have 
made their trust in riches, is possible with God. 
Attempts have been made to explain away the 
force of the metaphor of the camel and the 
needle's eye, as (1) by reading for camel, cable 
(for r.ut.ir\l.ov, xufiUov), a reading invented to 



soften Christ's language; (2) by the assertion 
that the small gate to the walled city, for foot 
passengers, was called the eye of a needle, a 
statement for which I can find no adequate 
authority. The natural interpretation of the 
phrase is the correct one. It is used to express, 
not the difficulty, but the impossibility of entering 
the kingdom of heaven by human power or skill. 
Parallel to this expression are similar aphorisms 
among the rabbis; e.g. "Just as soon will an 
elephant pass through the spout of a kettle " 
{Roberts), or "'Perhaps thou art one who can 
make an elephant pass through the eye of a 
needle, ' i. e. who speaks things that are impos- 
sible."— (Lightfoot.) On the whole teaching 
compare Prov. 30 : 8, 9 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 9, 10, 17. 
In Luke 12 : 16-21, Christ explains what he 
means by " them that trust in riches." 

27. Christ had just promised to the young 
man, if he forsook all and followed him, "treas- 
ures in heaven " (verse 21). No such promise had 
ever been made to the twelve (Luke 6 : 10, 21). 
Hence Peter's question. "The i aU' which the 
apostles had left was not in all cases contempt- 
ible. The sons of Zebedee had hired servants 
(Mark i : so), and Levi could make a great feast in 
his house. But whatever it was, it was their alV 
—(Afford.) 

28. This verse is peculiar to Matthew. Like 
all unfulfilled prophecies it is difficult of inter- 
pretation. The grammatical construction is itself 
not clear. The verse may be read either, Ye 
which in the regeneration have followed me shall 
* * * sit upon twelve thrones, or, Ye which have 
followed me shall in the regeneratimi * * * sit 
upon twelve thrones. I think the latter read- 
ing is preferable and assume it here to be the 
correct one ; the difference is not, however, very 
important. Without undertaking a full discus- 
sion of the teaching implied in the verse it may 
suffice here to remark, (1) that the promise refers 
to a future coming of Christ. The phrase When 
the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory 
describes a future coming in glory, in contrast 
with the incarnation which was a coming in hu- 
miliation. Christ sometimes employs the phrase 
Coming of the Son of man, or its equivalent, to 
designate the spiritual coming at Pentecost (see 



Oh. XX.] 



MATTHEW. 



229 



children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an 
hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 

30 But r many that are first shall be last ; and the 
last shall be first. 

CHAPTER XX. 

FOR the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man tkat 
is an householder, e which went out early in the 
morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 



2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a 
penny h a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 

3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw 
others standing idle in the marketplace, 

4 And said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, 
and whatsoever is right, I will give you. And they 
went their way. 

5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, 
and did likewise. 



f ch. 20 : 16 i 21 : 31, 32 ; Mark 10 : 31 ; Luke 13 : 30 ; Gal. 5 • 7 , Hel>. 4:1 g Can. 8 : 11, 12 h ch. 18 : 28. 



Matt. 10 : 23 and note), but by the phrase Coming in his 
glory, or, in the glory of his Father, I think he 
always refers to a second coming (Matt. 16: 27, 28, 

where the two comings are contrasted, see note there j Matt. 25 : 31 ; 
Mark 8 : 38 ; 10 : 37 ; 13 : 26 ; Lake 9 : 26 ; 21 : 27 ; compare Matt. 26 : 

64; John i : 5i). (3.) The term regeneration {nu/.iy- 
yaeala) is ambiguous. It occurs in the N. T. 
only here and in Titus 3 : 5, and in the latter 
passage refers to a spiritual change wrought in 
the heart by the Spirit of God. But it appears 
to me hardly doubtful, that the disciples would 
have understood Christ here to refer to that new 
order which is to be established at the second 
coming of the Messiah, when all old things will 
pass away, and all things will become new, and 
which is referred to in Isaiah 65 : 17 ; 66 : 22 ; 
Acts 3 : 21 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 13 ; Rev. 21 : 5. (3.) The 
promise here made to the twelve, Ye also shall sit 
upon the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel, paralleled by the similar promise in Luke 
22 : 28-30, is upon its face simply a personal 
promise to them ; but elsewhere are to be found 
promises, apparently to all the saints, of sharing 
with Christ, in a manner which is not explained, 
in his office of Judge and King, Dan. 7 : 22 ; 
1 Cor. 6 : 2, 3 ; Jude 14, 15 ; Rev. 3 : 21 ; 20 : 4. 
(4.) Whatever else this promise may mean, it cer- 
tainly imports the possession of a celestial office 
of great trust, dignity, and importance. That 
we can safely undertake to define its meaning 
with greater particularity, I doubt. (5. ) The other 
interpretation of this verse, given by both Chry- 
sostom and Lightf oot, is that Christ refers to his 
spiritual coming at Pentecost, and that the 
prophecy is nearly equivalent to, When I come 
in spiritual glory and power, ye, by your spiritual 
life, or by your doctrine, shall condemn the 
Jewish nation, which will reject me and my 
Gospel. But for the reasons given above this 
appears to me to be untenable. 

29. Mark and Luke both give this promise, 
which is not merely to the twelve, but to all 
disciples, to " every one that hath forsaken," &c. 
Mark gives it more fully, "He receiveth (the 
aorist tense in Mark, signifying not a promise to 
be fulfilled in the future but one continually ful- 
filled) an hundredfold, now in this time, houses and 
brethren and sisters, and mothers, and lands, with 
persecutions. The words underscored are peculiar 
to Mark. On the interpretation of the promise 



observe (1) it cannot possibly have been literally 
understood, for that would involve a multiplying 
of mothers, an impossibility, and would take 
away all significance from the important qualify- 
ing clause, with persecutions, since the loss of 
houses and lands, and of earthly friends, consti- 
tutes the very essence of persecution. Nor (2) 
is it possible to suppose that Christ means that 
in the new heaven and the new earth these shall 
be multiplied, for Mark expressly says, " now, in 
this time.' 1 '' Nor (3) does it mean, as Mr. Barnes 
interprets it, " the loss shull be compensated or 
made up" by the possession of "the pardon of 
sin, the favor of God, peace of conscience," &c, 
for this constitutes the " everlasting life " which 
begins on earth but continues in heaven, and 
which is promised in addition to "the hundred- 
fold." The promise is parallel to that of Matt. 
5 : 5 (see note there), and is fulfilled because (a) 
Christianity has operated as a general law to 
enhance the earthly prosperity of the race, to 
make wealth more general and more secure, and 
affections less liable to sundering through des- 
potism, quarrels, or death ; (6) friends are multi- 
plied and friendships made sweeter and more 
sacred by Christianity, especially among those 
who heartily accept and practically show forth 
Christ in their daily life ; (c) the spirit of true 
religion in the soul enhances a hundredfold the 
true and high enjoyment of earthly possessions 
and affections ; no one can enjoy the earth as he 

Who accepts it as God'S gift Of lOVe (compare 1 Cor. 3: 

21-23) ; (d) those who have been called to fulfill 
literally the condition of forsaking all for Christ, 
have as a rule enjoyed life's prosperities; e.g. 
there are few children better provided for in all 
that makes life desirable than those of our foreign 
missionaries. This verse is utterly irreconcilable 
with the spirit of asceticism in the Christian, and 
equally so with the idea that Jesus Christ sanc- 
tioned voluntary mendicancy, in any form. 

30. This is the text of the following parable, 
and appears again at its close (Matt. 20 : 16). The 
connection is this : But, all those that forsake 
their all shall receive this compensation ; not you 
apostles alone, or even pre-eminently, for, Many 
first shall be last, and last first. 



Ch. 20 : 1-16. THE PARABLE OP THE LABORERS.— 
The call of Christ ; a call to Christian work 



230 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XX. 



6 And about'the eleventh hour he went out, and 
found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why 
stand ye here all the day idle ? " 

7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. 
He saith unto them,J Go ye also into the vineyard ; 
and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. 

8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard 
saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and" give 
them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 

9 And when they came that were hired about the 
eleventh 1 hour, they received every man a penny. 

10 But when the first came, they supposed that they 



should have received more : and they likewise received 
every man a penny. 

ii And when they had received it, they murmured 1 ™ 
against the goodman of the house, 

12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, 
and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have 
borne the burden and heat ot the day. 

13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend," 
I do thee no wrong : didst not thou agree with me for 
a penny ? 

14 Take that thine is, and go thy way :° I will give 
unto this last even as unto thee. 



Prov. 19 : 16 ; Eze. 16 : 49 ; Acts 17 : 21 ; Heb. 6 : 12. 



.] Ecc. 9:10; John 9:4 k Luke 10 : 

..nch. 22 : 12.... John 17 : 2. 



.1 Luke 23 : 40-43. . . .m Luke 15 : 29, 3 



(compare Luke 5 : 10). — The busiest worldling is an 
idler.— God's promise to the Christian : whatever 
is right I will give (compare 1 John 1 : 9).— But one 
excuse for idleness: no opportunity for labor 
(v. 7). — God's short answer to all criticism on his 

PRESENT PROVIDENCE AND HIS PINAL JUDGMENT : It IS 

lawful por me to do what i well with mine own. 
— "The kingdom demands workers; hirelings it 
disdains." — "Not, How much hast thou done? 
but, What art thou now? will be the great 
question op the last dat." — " work is the means, 
man the end." 

This parable is peculiar to Matthew. Tisehen- 
dorf and Alford both omit from verse 7 the 
words "And whatsoever is right that shall ye re- 
ceive," and Tischendorf rejects also from verse 
16 the last clause. See note below on that verse. 
For the meaning of the word Friend in verse 
13 compare Matt. 22 : 12 ; 26 : 50, which give a 
solemn significance to its use. The Greek word 
(etaiQe) is different from that employed as an 
indication of intimacy, as in John 15 : 14. With 
these exceptions there is nothing in the original 
which is not adequately represented in our Eng- 
lish version. There are, however, but few para- 
bles that have received more diverse interpreta- 
tions. The curious reader will find them col- 
lated in Trench on the Parables. The difficulties 
have been enhanced, if not created, by ignoring 
the context, and by endeavoring to find a spirit- 
ual parallel for every incident and allusion in the 
story. Without giving space to these conflicting 
opinions, I shall indicate here what appear to 
me to be the main lessons inculcated. 

Lessons of the Parable. The story. This 
needs very little explanation. The ordinary Jew- 
ish working-day lasted from sunrise to sunset. 
Taking this to be equivalent to from 6 a.m. to 6 
p.m., we have the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh 
hours respectively equivalent to 9 a.m., 12 m., 
3 p.m., and 5 p.m. The custom of waiting in a 
market-place for employment is common at the 
present day in all countries where laborers are 
many and employers few. The penny, here de- 
narius, equaled in value eighteen cents. That it 
was a fair day's wages is implied here. It was 
the pay of a Koman soldier at or a little before 
this time. Compare Luke 10 : 35. The payment 



of the wages at sundown agrees with Jewish cus- 
tom, founded on and enforced by the laws of 
Moses, Deut. 24:15. — The parallel. The house- 
holder (olxodsortuT)]^) unmistakably represents 
God (Matt. 10:25; 13:27; 21 : 33); the vineyard is a 
not unfrequent symbol of his kingdom, or his 
church in the unecelesiastical sense of that word 

( Isaiah 5:1,7; Jer. 12 : 10 ; Matt. 21 : 28, 33, etc. ; Luke 13 : 6, etc.) ; 

he calls us to Christian labor, in his vineyard, 
i. e. both with and for him (1 Cor. 3 : 9). The first 
whom he calls, and who enter into a bargain, so 
much work so much pay (verse 2), represent those 
who enter into a covenant of works, and give 
their Christian zeal and activity for an expected 
reward ; the second who make no bargain, but 
trust all to the Master (verses 4, 7), those who enter 
his service, counting it their simple duty and 
trusting the recompense of reward to his good 

pleasure (Heb. 10 : 35, 36 ; see Rom. 4 : 4, 5 ; 2 Cor. 6 : 14) ; 

the day represents the earthly life, not of the 
individual but of the race, for at evening comes 
the accounting, i. e. the judgment at the end of 
the world. The reward is the heavenly inherit- 
ance, the eternal life, the crown of righteous- 
ness promised to all who truly love and faith- 
fully serve him ; those who object to this view, 
because it makes eternal life a matter of wages, 
not a free gift, forget that Christ constantly uses 
this term reward, here rendered hire (piaS-'og), to 
designate the saint's heavenly inheritance (Matt. 

5 : 12 ; 6:1; 10 : 41, 42 ; Mark 9 : 41 ; Luke 6 : 23, 35 ; compare 1 Cor. 

3 : 8, 14 ; Rev. 22 : 12). All who enter the vineyard 
are, it appears to me, true disciples of Christ, 
and all receive the reward; the murmuring 
(verse n), therefore, represents not the spirit with 
which any will finally receive God's allotment, 
since none of the disciples of Christ will murmur 
at His dispensation of the heavenly inheritance, 
but the spirit which too often prevails among the 
disciples upon earth, who virtually think their 
hard labour entitles them to large reward, and 
who in their thoughts complain at the divine al- 
lotments of this earthly life. Dr. Brown, how- 
ever, suggests that one object of the parable is 
to teach, " that men who have wrought in Christ's 
service all their days, may, by the spirit which 
they manifest at last, make it too evident that, as 



Oh. XX.] 



MATTHEW. 



231 



15 Isf it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine 
own ? Isi thine eye evil, because I am good ? 



16 So r the last shall be first, and the first last : for" 
many be called, but few chosen. 



p Rom. 9 : 15-24 ; James 1 : 18 q ch. C ; S3 ; Deut. 15 : 9. . . .r ch. 19 : 30 s ch. 22 : 14 ; 2 Thess. 2:13; James 1 : 23-25 



between God and their own souls, they never 
were chosen workmen at all." This is unques- 
tionably an important truth (compare Matt. 7 : 22, 23; 25 : 

44-46), but it does not appear to me to be the truth 
which this parable is intended to teach. See 
below on ver. 16. — Lessons. To understand these 
the parable must be taken in its connection. The 
rich young man has gone away sorrowful, choos- 
ing present riches rather than treasures in heaven 
(chap. 19 : 22). Peter, who has forsaken all for 
Christ, asks what he and his co-disciples are to 
have therefore, and Christ replies with the prom- 
ises of chap. 19 : 28, 39, and then adds the cau- 
tion, "Many first shall be last, and the last first," 
of which this parable is an interpretation, and 
from which it ought not to be separated by the 
chapter division. Its primary application is to 
the apostles, for whom Peter had asked the ques- 
tion. Because called to labor in the burden and 
heat of the day, in an era when labor involved 
large self-sacrifice and persecution, the apostles 
were not, on that account, entitled to claim any 
higher reward than those who came later, and 
who served, in their time, with equal fidelity. It 
applies secondarily to all who enter the kingdom 
of God, whether early or late in life, whether to 
do abundant labor or to do very little, provided 
they enter when first called, and labor faithfully 
according to their opportunity. It applies spir- 
itually to all in his kingdom, and teaches that 

(1) men are not paid in proportion to the amount 
or the burdensomeness of the work done, and 

(2) that the spirit which labors for wages and 
expects a return for its sacrifice and services is 
the last in the kingdom, though in the amount 
of its sacrifice and service it may be first, and the 
spirit that does what God assigns to be done, 
leaving all to him, is the first in God's kingdom, 
though in sacrifices borne and services accom- 
plished it may be last. Incidentally are the fol- 
lowing lessons : (1.) God calls us ; we do not first 

Choose him Or apply first tO him (verse 1 ; compare John 

15 : i6). " Every summons to a work in the heav- 
enly vineyard is from the Lord." — {Trench.) (2.) 
All without God's vineyard are idlers (verses); 
"the greatest man of business in worldly things 
is a mere idle gazer, if he has not yet entered on 
the true work which alone is worth anything, or 
gains any reward. " — (Stier.) (3.) There is to be a 
final accounting for the children of God as well 

as for the world (verse 8 ; compare Luke 19 : 14, 15, 27). (4.) 

God calls us to account, but will not submit to be 
called to account and judged by us, an attempt 
we often make in our theological and philosoph- 
ical diSCUSSionS (verse 15 ; compare Rom. 9 ; 19, 20). (5.) It 



gives no promise or hope of eternal life to those 
who reject the Gospel until their death-bed, be- 
cause none can take encouragement from the 
eleventh hour laborer, except those who to the 
question, Why stand ye here idle ? can reply, No 
man hath hired us. Each laborer went to work at 
the first call. (6.) Nor does it militate against the 
doctrine, elsewhere taught in Scripture, of de- 
grees, both of reward and punishment (Matt. 25 : 

20-23 ; Luke 12 : 47, 48 ; 1 Cor. 3 : 14, 15), f Or though each 

man received a penny, yet to each the penny was 
what he would make of it. "The last go home, 
each with a penny in his pocket and astonished 
glad gratitude in his heart ; their reward accord- 
ingly is a penny and more. The first, on the con- 
trary, go home each with a penny in his pocket, 
and corroding discontent in his soul ; their re- 
ward accordingly is less than a penny." — (Arnot.) 
God himself is the Christian's reward (Gen. 15 : 1), 
and is to each soul what the soul has capacity to 
receive. Even upon earth we can see that the joy 
of God's presence is much to some and little to 
others. (7. ) Nor does it imply that heaven is given 
as wages for labor ; on the contrary, it teaches the 
reverse. Like the parable of the unjust judge 
Luke is : 1-7), it teaches by contraries. It is as if 
Christ said, to the bargaining spirit represented 
by Peter's question, Even if the kingdom of God 
were one of mere work and wages, many last 
would be first and first last. There is a curious 
parallel to and yet contrast with this parable in 
a rabbinical one quoted by Lightfoot, where 
there is the same employment, a similar appar- 
ent inequality in payment, the same murmuring, 
but a very different response. "The King saith 
to them, He hath labored more in those two 
hours than you in the whole day." It is curious 
that some Christian commentators have inter- 
preted Christ's parable thus, and so have made 
it confirm that very spirit of legalism which it 
condemns. 

16. The first clause of this verse is used else- 
where by Christ (Luke 13 : 30), where he evidently 
distinguishes between the first called, the Jews, 
who are yet finally rejected, and the last called, 
the Gentiles, who are finally accepted. But here 
and in chap. 19 : 30, the reference is evidently to 
two classes of disciples, as interpreted above. 
The last clause of the verse is wanting in the 
Sinaitic and Vatican manuscripts, and is omitted 
by Tischendorf. It is retained by Alford. If not 
an addition by a copyist its interpretation here is 
difficult. It appears again in Matt. 22 : 14, where 
clearly the distinction is between those who are 
invited by the Gospel but are not prepared for 



232 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXI. 



17 And 1 Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve 
disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, 

18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ; and the Son of 
man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto 
the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, 

19 And" shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock, 
and to scourge," and to crucify him : and the third day 
he shall rise again. 

20 Then™ came to him the mother of Zebedee's chil- 
dren, with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a 
certain thing of him. 

21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou ? She saith 
unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the 
one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy 
kingdom. 

22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what 
ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall 
drink of, and to be baptized with the" baptism that I 
am baptized with ? They say unto him, We are able. 

23 And he saith unto them, Ye? shall drink indeed of 
my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am 
baptized with ; but to sit on my right hand, and on my 
left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them 
for whom it is prepared of my Father. 

24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with 
indignation against the two brethren. 

25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye z 
know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise domin- 
ion over them, and they that are great exercise autho- 
rity upon them. 

26 But it shall not be" so among you : but" whoso- 
ever will be great among you, let him be your minister : 

27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him 
be your servant : 

28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered 
unto, but c to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
many. d 

29 And as they departed from Jericho, a great multi- 
tude followed him. 

30 And, 6 behold, two blind men, sitting by the way 
side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out. 
saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David ! 

31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they 
should hold their peace : but they cried the more, say- 
ing, Have merey on us, O Lord, thou son of David ! 



32 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, 
What will ye that I shall do unto you ? 

33 They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be 
opened. 

34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched 
their eyes : and immediately their eyes received sight, 
and they followed him. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

AND f when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and 
were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of 
Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 

2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against 
you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a 
colt with her : loose them, and bring them unto me. 

3 And if any ««« say ought unto you. ye shall say. 
The Lord hath need of them ; and straightway he will 
send them. 

4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by the prophet.e saying, 

5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, h Behold, thy King 
cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and 
a colt the foal of an ass. 

6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus com- 
manded them, 

7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them 
their clothes, and they set him thereon. 

8 And a very great multitude spread their garments 
in the way ; others cut down branches from the trees, 
and strawed them in the way. 

9 And the multitudes that went before, and that fol- 
lowed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David ! 
Blessed' is he that cometh in the name of the Lord : 
Hosanna in the highest !' 

10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the 
city was moved, saying, Who is this ? 

11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet 
of Nazareth of Galilee. 

12 And" Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast 
out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and 
overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the 
seats of them that sold doves ; 

13 And said unto them, It is 1 written. My house shall 
be called the house of prayer ; but ye have made it a 
den of m thieves. 



t ch. 16 : 21, etc.; Mark 10 : 32, etc. ; Luke 18 1 31, etc.; John 12 : 12, ete 11 ch. 27 : 2, etc.; Mark 15 : 1, 16, etc. ; Luke 23 : 1, etc. ; John 

18 : 28, etc. ; Acts 3 : 13 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 3-1 v Isa. 53: 6.... w Mark 10 : 35 1 Luke 12: 60 y Acta 12 : 2; Rom. 8 : 11; 2 Cor. 1:1; 

Rev. 1 : 9 z Luke 22 : 25, 26 a 1 Pet.5 : 3. . . .b ch. 23 : 11 : Mark 9 : 35 ; 10:43.. .e Luke 22 : 21 ; John 13:4-14; Phil. 2:7.... 

d Isa. 53 : 6, 8, 11 ; Dan. 9 : 24, 26 ; 1 Tim. 2:6; Tilus 2 : 14 ; Heb. 9 : 28: 1 Pet. 1 : 18, 19; Rev. 1 : 5....0 ch. 9 : 21 ; Mark 10 : 46 ; Luke 

18 : 35.... f Mark 11:1; Luke 19 : 29 g Zech. 9:9 h Isa. 62 : 11 ; Mark 11 : 4, etc.; John 12 : 15 i ch. 23 : 39 ; Pa. 118 : 26 

j Luke 2 : 14 k Mark 11 : 11 ; Luke 19 : 45, etc.; John 2 : 15, etc 1 Isa. 56: 7 m Jer. 7 : U. 



heaven, and those who are prepared and so are 
among the chosen people of God. But here the 
context seems to forbid such an interpretation. 
It has been suggested that the term chosen 
is used here in a different sense, equivalent to 
choice ones, so that the meaning is, There are many 
disciples, but few that are pre-eminent in their 
calling. This is certainly a possible meaning, but 
it is not sustained by any parallel passage in the 
N. T., the term chosen or elect (ixXextuc) never 
having this significance, unless Rev. 17 : 14 be an 
instance. I incline to the opinion, which is as 
old as Calvin, that the sentence does not belong 
here. 

17-34. Christ goes up to Jerusalem. In- 
cidents on the way. There is nothing to 
connect the remaining incidents in this chapter 
with those which immediately precede. They all 
occurred on the occasion of Christ's going up to 
Jerusalem to the last Passover and to his Passion 
and death. Luke's account of this journey (Luke 
is: 3i to 19:28) is the fullest, though he omits the peti- 



tion of the sons of Zebedee. Mark (10 : 32-34) 
gives the account of Christ's prophecy of his 
death more fully than Matthew, and (10 : 35-45) the 
account of the petition of the sons of Zebedee in 
almost the same form. For notes on those two 
incidents see Mark ; for notes on the healing of 
the blind men see Luke. 



Ch. 21 : 1-22. Triumphal entrt into 
Jerusalem. There is some uncertainty as to 
the order of events here narrated. Certainly the 
impression produced by Matthew's narrative is 
that all occurred on the same day. Mark, how- 
ever, (11 : 11) states that Christ entered the Temple 
and " when he had looked round about upon all 
things, and now the eventide was come, he went 
out unto Bethany with the twelve 5" and he gives 
the cleansing of the Temple on the following 
day. And this is probably the correct chronology. 
See note on Mark 11 : 11. 

1-11. An account of this triumphal entry is 
given also in Mark 11 : 1-11, Luke 19 : 29-44, and 



a, 



So 



p- 1 







Ch. XXL] 



MATTHEW. 



233 



14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the 
temple ; and" he healed them. 

15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the 
wonderful things that he did, and the children crying 
in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of 
David ! they were sore displeased, 

16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say ? 
And Jesus saith unto them, Yea : have ye never read. 
Out? of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast 
perfected praise ? 

17 And he left them, and went out of the city into 
Bethany ; and he lodged there. 

18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, 
he hungered. 



19 And"> when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came 
to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and 
said unto it. Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward 
for ever. And presently the fig tree withered' away. 

20 And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, 
saying, How soon is the rig tree withered away ! 

21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say 
unto you, If 8 ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not 
only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye 
shall say unto this mountain. Be thou removed, 1 and be 
thou cast into the sea, it shall be done. 

22 And all things whatsoever ye shall ask" in prayer, 
believing, ye shall receive. 

23 And" when he was come into the temple, the chief 



n Isa. 35 : 6 o verse 9. 



..pPs. 8:2.. 
Mark 11 : 



.q Mark 11 : 13 r Jude 12.... a oh. 17 : 20 ; Luke 17: 6; Jas. 1:6 t 1 Cor. 13 : 2. . . .n ch. 7 : ', 

24; Jas. 5 : 16 ; 1 John 3 : 22 ; 5 : 14. ...v Mark 11 : 27 ; Luke 20 : 1. 



John 12 : 12-19. It is fullest and most graphic 
in Luke. See notes there. 

12, 13. This casting of the traders out of the 
Temple, narrated also in Mark 11 : 15-19, and 
Luke 19 : 45-48, is not to be confounded with 
that recorded in John 2 : 13-17 at the commence- 
ment of Christ's ministry. It is not at all strange 
that, scourged from the Temple, they should, in 
less than three years, have returned again to 
corrupt it. History is full of parallels. Com- 
pare Matt. 12 : 43-45 and note. The Temple was 
cleansed but not filled by the indwelling of the 
Spirit of God. For the symbolical significance 
of this purification of the Temple see notes on 
John 2 : 13-17. 

14. Peculiar to Matthew, who alone gives any 
account of miracles being wrought at this time. 

15, 16. This incident of the participation of 
the children of the Temple in the greeting to 
Christ is also peculiar to Matthew. In the Jew- 
ish as in the Roman Catholic service, children 
took part in the service of song. It was probably 
these children who caught the public enthusiasm, 
and joined in the chorus of Hosanna to the Son 
of David. The incident marks the height which 
the enthusiasm reached. Christ's rebuke of the 
chief priests should be studied by those who 
would check Christian enthusiasm in children at 
the present day. Christ's reference, Have ye 
never read? is to Psalm 8 : 2. The Greek word 
(y.ataQtt^uj) here translated perfected, is rendered 
in Matt. 4 ; 21 mending, in Gal. 6 : 1 restore; it 
is more literally Thou restorest praise. True praise 
of God had perished from the Temple ; in the 
mouths of these children of the Temple it was 
being restored. So every babe is, in his inno- 
cence, a restorer of the praise of God to the 
earth. Compare Matt. 18 : 4 ; Mark 10 : 15. 

17-22. The account of the cursing of the fig- 
tree is given only here and Mark 11 : 12-14, 20-26. 
It is fullest in Mark. See notes there. 

Ch. 21 : 23-46. Chaps. 22 and 23. 
Christ's last public discourses — Tuesday, 
4th April, a.d. 30. 

The teachings contained in the rest of this 
chapter and in chapters 22 and 23, were all given 



publicly in the Temple on Tuesday. They con- 
stitute the close of Christ's public ministry. 
Parallel to Matthew's report here is Mark 11 : 27 
to end of chap. 12 ; and Luke, chap. 20. With 
these accounts should be read John 12 : 20-50, 
which repeats nothing given in the other Evan- 
gelists, but appears to report other instructions 
which were given on the same occasion. Mat- 
thew's account of the public teachings of this 
eventful day is much the fullest ; Mark (12 : 41-14) 
and Luke (si : 1-4), however, give the account of 
the widow and two mites, which Matthew omits, 
and John (12 : 20-36) gives the interview with the 
Greeks which no other Evangelist gives. The 
fact that John, whose general record of Christ's 
Judean ministry is so full, says almost nothing 
of the teachings of this day, is one of the many 
indications that he wrote with the other Gospels 
before him, and in part to supply what they 
lacked. 

In studying in detail the teachings contained 
in this and the two following chapters, their 
general character and aim must not be forgotten. 
Tuesday, the 4th day of April, was by far the 
most eventful in the life of Christ, prior to his 
passion and death. On the evening of that day, 
and for that day's utterances, not at his more 
formal trial, he was condemned to die. When he 
first entered the Temple it was evident that sys- 
tematic plans had been formed to silence him 
(Lake 19 : 47, 4s). Pharisees, Sadducees and Hero- 
dians united against him ; assumed to be his 
disciples ; mingled their questions with those of 
honest enquirers ; endeavored to entrap him into 
answers that should arouse popular prejudice or 
embroil him with the Roman government ; plied 
him with flatteries ; and praising his boldness and 
independence, sought to cajole him (Matt. 22 : 16 ; 

Mark 11 : 27 ; 12 : 13, 14 ; Luke 20 : 20, 2l). Hitherto, Christ 

had either openly refused or successfully evaded 
all such questions. He now pursued a different 
course ; sought to draw out the hierarchy ; made 
plain to all the people the ineradicable antag- 
onism between him and the priesthood ; and 
closed with a solemn and terrible denunciation 

Of them (Matt. 21 : 32; 22 : 21, 29-32; 23: 13-36), Which yet 



234 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXI. 



priests and the elders of the people came unto him as 
he was teaching, and said. By" what authority doest 
thou these things ? and who gave thee this authority. 

24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also 
will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like 
wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 

25 The baptism of John, whence was it ? from 
heaven, or of men ? And they reasoned with them- 



selves, saying. If we shall say. From heaven ; he will 
say unto us, why did ye not then believe him ? 

26 But if we snail say, Of men ; we fear the people ; 
for" all hold John as a prophet. 

27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot 
tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by 
what authority I do these things. 

28 But what think ye ? A certain? man had two 



Ezod. 2 : 14 1 ch. 14 : 5 y Luke 15 : 11, etc. 



ended in an outcry of infinite pathos, of divine 
pity and compassion (23 : 37-39). This commingled 
denunciation and lamentation constituted Christ's 
farewell to Judaism — the culmination of his min- 
istry, the first word of whose earliest public and 
recorded discourse had been 'Blessed,' and to 
the graciousness of whose first sermons all had 
borne glad testimony (Matt. 5 : 3; Luke 4: 22). See 
Abbott's Jesus of Nazareth, chap. 28, pp. 402-404, 
from which this note is condensed. 

Ch. 21 : 23-27. FIRST ATTACK ON CHRIST.-His 
authority questioned. See Lessons below. 

Mark (11 : 27-33) and Luke (20 ; i-s) give the ac- 
count of this interview in almost the same words. 
Christ was walking (Mark) and preaching tJie Oos- 
pel (Luke), i. e. telling the people the good news 
of the coming kingdom of God. 

23. Into the Temple. The outer court of 
the Temple, the court of the Gentiles (see notes on 
John 2 : i3-i?) was a convenient gathering place of 
the people, and during the Passover week would 
be thronged. Here Christ and his apostles often 

preached (John 7 : 14 ; 8:2; Acts 2: 4G; 3: 1, 11, etc.). — The 

chief priests. That is, the leaders of the priest- 
hood. See note on Matt. 2 : 4. — The elders of 
the people. These were laymen. See note on 
Matt. 16 : 21. Mark and Luke add scribes ; these 
were the theologians of Judaism. Lange and Al- 
ford suppose this to have been an official delega- 
tion from the Sanhedrim. That is certainly pos- 
sible, but by no means clear. I should think it 
more probable, from Matt. 22 : 15, that prior to 
the time there referred to, the efforts to entangle 
Christ were individual and extemporized. 

These things. This includes his whole min- 
istry. He had neither the authority of a rabbi to 
teach, nor of a priest to cleanse the Temple. 
There is significance in the vagueness of the lan- 
guage, these things. They were unwilling to 
specify the cleansing of the Temple, and so seem 
publicly to justify its pollution. — And who 
gave thee this authority ? This question 
interprets the other, and indicates their object, 
viz., authority on which they could found a 
charge of blasphemy. They thus sought by 
indirection, what on his trial the high priest 
sought by a direct question. See Matt. 26 : 63, 64. 

25. The baptism of John. "Meaning 
thereby, the whole office and teaching of which 
the baptism was the central point and seal." — 



(Alford.) — From heaven. Equivalent here to 
from God. — And they reasoned among 
themselves. In a conference aside. Surely it is 
a strain upon the narrative to suppose that they 
returned to the Sanhedrim, and that a formal 
consultation was there held. As to the Evangel- 
ist's source of knowledge, it may have been, as 
Alford supposes, Nicodemus or Joseph of Ari- 
mathea; is it not more probable to have been 
our Lord himself, who knew what was in man 
and read even their unuttered thoughts ? — Why 
did ye not then believe him ? Generally, 
accept him and his mission. How far they were 
from doing this is evident, from Christ's charg- 
ing them with the murder of John the Baptist 
(Matt. 17 : 12 and note). What gives special point to 
this inquiry, however, is John the Baptist's tes- 
timony tO Christ (johnl : 27, 29, 34; 3 :3l). If they 

believed John was a prophet they could not 
question the authority of Christ. 

26. We fear the people. Luke adds : all 
the people will stone us. " Seest thou a perverse 
heart. In every case they despise God, and do 
all things for the sake of men."- — {Chrysostom.) — 
For all hold John as a prophet. Compare 
Luke 7 : 27. 

27. We cannot tall. Literally, we do not 
know. "They were caught in a rough alterna- 
tive, and could extricate themselves only by a 
step of desperation — a confession of ignorance, 
and that of hypocritical (pretended?) ignorance." 
— {Lange.) They assumed to judge of Christ's au- 
thority : he compelled them to confess publicly 
their inability to judge of the authority of John 
the Baptist. Their utter want-of moral principle, 
their supreme and even unconcealed indifference 
to the truth stands out nowhere more clearly 
than in these last days of Christ's ministry. Com- 
pare Matt. 22 : 15 ; Luke 20 : 20 ; John 11 : 47-60. 
— Neither tell I you. " An answer, not to 
their outward words, We know not, but to their 
inward thoughts, We will not tell." — {Alford.) 

Lessons. One may admire in this incident 
the skill with which Christ confounds the ene- 
mies of truth. It illustrates {a) Christ's refusal 
to submit his claims to the decision of inimical 
skeptics ; (&) the unity of divine truth ; one can- 
not accept a part and reject a part, e. g. accept 
John the Baptist and reject Christ ; (c) the hy- 
pocrisy of much that appears to be religious 
investigation ; {d) the right of a religious teacher 



Ch. XXI.] 



MATTHEW. 



235 



sons ; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work 
to-day in my vineyard. 

29 He answered and said, I will not ; but afterward* 
he repented, and went. 

30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. 
And he answered and said t I go, sir ; and went not. 

31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father ? 



They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, 
Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the har- 
lots go into the kingdom of God before you. 

32 For John came unto you in the way of righteous- 
ness, and ye believed him not : but the publicans 1 and 
the harlots" believed him : and ye, when ye had seen 
it, repented not c afterward, that ye might believe him. 



z 2 Chron. 33 : 12, 13 ; 1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 2 : 1-13. 



Luke 3:12 b Luke 7 : 37, etc. . . .c Rev, 2 : 21. 



to answer a fool according tc his folly, if he has 
the ability so to do. 

Ch. 21 : 28-32. PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS— The 

TEST OF PIETY IS PRACTICE, NOT PROFESSION. 

This parable is peculiar to Matthew. The 
story is of a small vineyard, which the father 
works with the aid of his own family only. In 
other respects it corresponds to the parable of 
the laborers (Matt. 20 : 1-16). The owner of the 
vineyard represents God ; the two sons, two 
types of character ; the vineyard itself, the world, 
which is God's field (Matt. 13 : 38) ; and the com- 
mand the call of God to his children, which is a 
call to become co-workers with him (1 Cor. 3 : 9). 
Compare notes on Matt. 20 : 1-1C. 

28. How seems it to you ? That is, what 
do you think yourself of the case I put to you ? 
Analogous to this appeal is Isaiah 1 : 18 ; analo- 
gous to our Lord's method here, is Nathan's with 
David (2 Sam. 12 : 1-12). It incidently indicates to 
the religious teacher how, by indirection, to ap- 
proach a sacred conscience. 

29. He * * * said, I will not. This 
is the language of flagrant, open, and audacious 
sin. Compare Luke 15 : 12 ; 19 : 14. The char- 
acter and experience described are represented 
in such passages as Prov. 1 : 24 ; Jer. 2 : 25 ; 44 : 16. 
— But afterwards regretted it and went. 
The Greek word (utrafitXoucu) here rendered 
repent should not be so translated. It occurs in 
the N. T. only here and in verse 32 below, and in 
Matt. 27 : 3 ; 2 Cor. 7:8; Heb. 7 : 21. It differs 
from the word (uezaroita), more generally ren- 
dered repent ; that word signifies a change of 
purpose, this, rather regret. See note on Matt. 
3 : 2. Here, however, though the idea of regret 
is prominent, the result, a change of mind, is in- 
volved in the narrative. 

30. He * * * said, I sir. There is an 
air of alacrity and of quasi self-assurance in the 
original, which our version hardly retains. Mor- 
ison paraphrases it, " Tou may depend upon me 
sir." The character and experience described 
are depicted in such passages as Isaiah 29 : 13 ; 
Ezek. 33 : 31 ; Matt. 15 : 8 ; Rom. 2 : 17-23 ; Titus 
1 :16. 

31. 32. Publicans and harlots. For a 
description of the Publican see note on Matt. 
9 : 9. For description of the Pharisees, here re- 
ferred to in the words "before you," see note on 
Matt. 3 : 7. Publicans and harlots had accepted 



Christ and enrolled themselves among his disci- 
ples (Matt. 9:9; Luke 1 : 29, 37-50 ; 15:1, 2; 19:2,9, 10). — Go 

into the kingdom of God before you. 

An intimation that the way was still open, so 
that the Pharisees might follow on if they would. 
— In the way of righteousness. Preaching 
obedience as the way of life, which was the radical 
doctrine of Pharisaism, but preaching a very dif- 
ferent kind of obedience, viz., compliance with 
the moral not with the mere ceremonial law (see 
Luke 3 : 10-14). John the Baptist came upon their 
own ground, yet they believed not. — -When ye 
had seen it, regretted not, that ye might 
believe him. That is, they had no such regret 
as led to a practical belief in John, and practical 
compliance with his instructions. 

Lessons. These two sons represent, not the 
Gentiles and the Jews, as interpreted by some of 
the earlier commentators, nor the Publicans 
and Pharisees, as usually interpreted by the 
later commentators, but those Publicans who re- 
gretted their open and flagrant sinfulness and 
commenced a life of obedience, and those Phari- 
sees who endeavored to cover a life of real dis- 
obedience by a pretence of compliance with the 
law. The first son indicates only Publicans who, 
like Matthew and Zaccheus, forsook their sins to 
follow Christ ; the second son does not indicate 
Pharisees who, like Nicodemus, Joseph of Ari- 
mathea, and Paul, forsook their sins to follow 
him. In its modern application the parable 
teaches, not that there is more hope for a flagrant 
sinner than for a virtuous man, but that the fla- 
grant sinner who forsakes his sins, enters the 
kingdom of heaven before the orthodox and 
moral man, who clings to his sins. The first son 
is commended, not because of the daring wickedness 
of his reply, but because he regretted it and showed 
his regret by Jiis action. "What comfort will it 
afford to the lost to reflect that they went openly 
to perdition, in broad day-light, before all men, 
and did not skulk through by-ways, under pre- 
tence that they were going to heaven. "—(Arnot.) 
On the other hand the second son is not condemned 
for his answer, but in spite of it, and because, 
having promised obedience, he refused to render 
it. The lesson of the parable is then exactly the 
lesson of Matt. 7 : 21-27. Incidentally it opens 
the door of hope to all, even the least and the 
lowest. "Who was more wretched than Mat- 
thew? But he became an Evangelist. Who 
worse than Paul ? But he became an apostle. * * * 



236 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXL 



33 Hear another parable : There was a certain house- 
holder, which" 1 planted a vineyard, and hedged it round 
about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, 
and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far 
country : 

34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent 
his servants' 5 to the husbandmen, that they might re- 
ceive the fruits of it. 



35 And' the husbandmen took his servants, and beal 
one, and killed another, and stoned another. 

36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first : 
and they did unto them likewise. 

37 But, last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, 
They will reverence my son. 

38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said 



:8-16; So!. Song 8 : 11, 12;Isn. 5:1-7; 
■1 Chruu. 36 : 16 ; Neh. 9 : 21 



Jer. 2 : 21 ; Mark 12:1; Lul-e 20 : 9, 
; Jer. 25 : 3-7 ; Acta 7 : 52 ; 1 Thess. 



c e 2 Kings 17 : 13, etc f ch. 6 : 12 ; 23 : 34-37 ; 

; 15 ; Heb. 11 : 36, 37 ; Rev. 6 : 9. 



Rahab was a harlot, yet was she saved ; and the 
thief was a murderer, yet he became a citizen of 
Paradise ; and while Judas being with his Master, 
perished, the thief being on a cross, became a 
disciple." — {Chrysostom.) The whole parable il- 
lustrates Matt. 19 : 30. 

Ch. 21 : 33-46. THE PARABLE OF THE WICKED HUS- 
BANDMEN. — The accountability of nations to God. 
— The punishment or godless and unfaithful na- 
tions. 

This parable was a part of the Temple instruc- 
tion on the day which constituted the close of 
Christ's public ministry. It is reported also in 
Mark (12 : 1-12) and Luke (20 : 9-19). It was spoken 
to all the people (Luke) and therefore personally 
applied to all, not merely, as some of the com- 
mentators have supposed, to their religious 
leaders. 

33. Hear another parable. Confounded 
by the previous parable and its application, those 
who came to perplex Christ (verse 23) would have 
withdrawn ; he recalls them. — There was a 
certain householder which planted a 
vineyard. Judea was formerly a land of vine- 
yards ; these were constructed on its hills, which 
were often terraced to the summit. From the 
earliest settlement by the Israelites it was famous 

for its grapes (Numb. IS : 23 ; Isaiah 16 : 8-10 ; Jer. 48 : 32). 

The hedge was sometimes a stone wall, sometimes 
a true hedge of thorns ; this last, if formed, as is 
common in the East, of the prickly wild aloe, 
was an effectual protection against wild beasts 
( Psaim so: 12, 13; Sol. song 2: 15). The wine-press was 
dug in the earth or hewn out of the solid rock. 
It consisted of two vats, at different elevations, 
the grapes being trodden out in one ; the other 
receiving the juice. The tower was a place of 
shelter for watchmen who guarded the fruit of 
the vineyard ; it was also used for storing the 
fruit. It is customary in the East, as in 
Ireland and in other parts of Europe, for the 
owner to let out his estate to husbandmen, i. e. 
tenants, who pay him an annual rent, either in 
money, or, as apparently in this case, in kind. 
The attempt to find a spiritual parallel for the 
hedge, and wine-press and tower, appears to me 
unnatural and far-fetched. But Chrysostom's 
remark is worth nothing. " Observe his great care 
and the excessive idleness of these men. For 
what pertained to the husbandmen he himself 



did, the hedging round about, the planting the 
vineyard, and all the rest." The sources of 
national prosperity, not only with the Jews, but 
with all nations, come from God. To preserve 
and ripen what he has given is alone left to man. 
And went abroad. "By his going into a 
far country he means his great long-suffering." 
— (Chrysostom.) But it seems to me he means 
more than this. Christ repeatedly represents 
God as appearing to withdraw from the earth, 
that he may test the fidelity and obedience of his 

Children (Matt. 24 : 48 ; 25 : 14 ; Luke 19 : 12). I Should 

rather say this represents and partially explains 
"the eternal silences," God's seeming absence. 

34. And when the time of the fruit drew 
near. By the Mosaic law the fruit of the trees 
was not to be eaten for five years after planting. 
This reasonable provision, though based on reli- 
gious grounds, gave the tree opportunity for 
maturing before use (Lev. 19 : 23-25). But the anal- 
ogy is not to be pressed. All time is the time of 
fruit with the individual and with the nation. 

God Continually Seeks for fruit (Luke 13 : 7 ; John 15 : 

2, 5, 8). 

35, 3G. Such scenes of violence as are here 
described (verses 3s, 39), have been common, not 
only in the East, but even in Ireland, and they 
have not been unknown even in this country, e. g. 
in the days of the anti-rent controversy in N. T. 
State. "For an abundant historical justification 
of this description, and as showing that the past 
ingratitude of the people is not painted here in 
colors a whit too dark, see 1 Kings 18 : 13 ; 19 : 
14 ; 22 : 24-27 ; 2 Kings 6 : 31 ; 21 : 16 ; 2 Chron. 
24 : 19-22 ; 30 : 15, 16 ; Jer. 20 : 1, 2 ; 37 : 15 ; and 
also Acts 7 : 51-55 ; 1 Thess. 2 : 15 ; Heb. 11 : 36, 
37."— (Trench.) Compare also Matt. 23 : 34-37 ; 
Mark and Luke give this description of the 
treatment of the servants somewhat more graph- 
ically. 

37. In Luke the lord of the vineyard is repre- 
sented as saying, What shall I do? a picture of 
human perplexity, representing the grief of the 
Heavenly Father over his rebellious children. 
Mark's report of Christ's language is noticeable. 
He says, Having yet therefore one son, his well- 
beloved. Christ thus discriminates clearly be- 
tween himself, the Son, and the prophets who 
were but servants (compare Heb. 3 : 5, 6). — They will 
respect my son. "So also elsewhere he saith, 



Oh. XXL] 



MATTHEW. 



237 



among themselves, This is the heir fi come, let us kill 
him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 

39 And they" caught him, and cast him out of the 
vineyard, and slew him. 

40 When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, 
what will he do unto those husbandmen ? 

41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy' 
those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto 
other) husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits 
in their seasons. 



42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the 
scriptures, The" stone which the builders rejected, the 
same is become the head of the corner : this is the 
Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes ? 

43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom 1 of God 
shall be taken from you, and given to a nation™ bring- 
ing forth the fruits thereof. 

44 And whosoever shall fall" on this stone shall be 
broken : but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind 
him to powder. 



I! Heb. 1 : 1, 2. ...h Acts 2 : 23 ; 4 : 25-27.... i Ps. 2 : 4, 5, 9 ; Zeeh. 12 : 2....J Luke 21 : 24 ; Rom. 9 : 26"; 11 : 11. 
28 : 16; 1 Pet. 2 : 6, 7....1 ch. 8 : 12 m Ida. 23 : 2 11 Lsa. 8: 14, 15 o Heb. 2 : 2, 3. 



.kPs. 118: 22; Isa. 



If perchance, they will hear (Ezek. 2 : 5), not being 
ignorant, but lest any of the obstinate should say 
that his prediction necessitated their disobe- 
dience." — (Chrysostom.) Perhaps this is all. Yet 
it seems to me that this language of Scripture, 
of constant appeal to the will of man, shows that 
God recognizes a real freedom of will, which 
theologians and philosophers have sometimes 
denied. The way was still open for them, so 
that they might respect and listen to the Son, 
though God foreknew their rejection of him. 
Compare Acts 2 : 23. 

. 38, 39. This is the heir. That the Phar- 
isees recognized in Christ the divine Messiah is 
not probable ; that they did recognize his mirac- 
ulous power is certain from John 3:2; 11 : 47- 
50 ; and the latter reference indicates that if they 
did not recognize in him the Messiah it was due 
to willful prejudice. — Seize on his inherit- 
ance. That which engendered the bitter hos- 
tility of the priests and scribes to Christ, was the 
fact that his teaching threatened to destroy their 
influence and power. They considered the nation 
their property ; and they slew the Son that they 
might hold it for themselves (John 11 : 48; 12 : 19). — 
Cast him out of the vineyard. The com- 
mentators notice that Christ was delivered over 
to the Gentiles to be slain (John is : 28), and was 
crucified without the gate (John 19 •. 17 ; Heb. 13 : 11, 12). 
But neither fact appears to me to be indicated 
here. Mark reverses the order of Matthew's 
language and says, Killed him and cast him out of 
the vineyard. 

41. Miserable fellows! miserably will 
he destroy them, {xaxovg y.uy.wq unu/.toe 
uvrovg.) The language of indignation is far 
stronger in the original, of which I give, as nearly 
as possible, a literal translation, than in our 
English version. The Pharisees did not perceive 
the drift of his parable, or perhaps this was the 
answer of the people, and " God forbid" (Lnke 
20 : 16) was their involuntary response to the pop- 
ular expression. To this their response, reported 
only by Luke, Christ replies with the quotation 
from the O. T. of the next verse, thus confirming 
the lesson of his parable. 

42. This quotation is from Psalm 118 : 22. 
From the same Psalm, ver. 26, was taken the song 
sung by the people on Christ's triumphal entry 



into Jerusalem, two days before (Matt. 21 : 9). The 
date and occasion of that Psalm are uncertain, and 
to what the Psalmist referred in the proverbial 
phrase here quoted, is therefore also uncertain. 
Mr. Barnes' interpretation appears to me rational. 
" We are not to suppose that this Psalm had origi- 
nal reference to the Messiah ; but it is applicable 
to him, and it is used, here and elsewhere, merely 
to show them how the principle was found in 
their own writings, that one who was rejected, 
like a stone unfit to be worked into any part 
of a building, might be in reality so important, 
that it would be laid yet at the very corner, and 
become the most valuable stone in the edifice — 
that on which the whole superstructure would 
rest." 

The head of the corner refers not to the 
highest point or coping of the wall, but to the 
corner-stone, laid at the foundation, binding 
together the two walls ; on it the whole super- 
structure, in a measure, rests. There are four 
corner-stones, but in large buildings one is gen- 
erally laid with ceremony, as the first step in the 
true structure of the edifice. Christ is declared 
elsewhere in the N. T. to be the corner-stone of 
his church. See Acts 4 : 11 ; 1 Cor. 3 : 11 ; 1 Pet. 
2 : 6, 7 ; compare Isaiah 28 : 16 ; Zech. 4:7; and 
especially Ephes. 2 : 20-22, where Christ's office 
in binding together Jew and Gentile in one spir- 
itual edifice is portrayed.— Marvellous. Be- 
cause the rejected stone is become the corner- 
stone. The superstructure also is largely made 
up of stones rejected by the world's builders. 
Compare Acts 4 : 13 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 26, 27. 

43. Given to a nation producing the 
fruits thereof. Not any particular nation, nor 
the Gentiles generally, but God's peculiar people, 
his chosen nation out of all lands. See Acts 15 : 
14 ; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 5 : 9. 

44. Trench gives well the meaning of this 
enigma. "They fall on the stone who are of- 
fended at Christ in his low estate (isaiah 8 : 14 ; 53 : 2; 

Luke 2: 34; 4:29; John 4: 44); of this SUl his hearers 

were already guilty. They on whom the stone 
falls are those who set themselves in self-con- 
scious opposition against the Lord ; who, knowing 
what he is, do yet to the end oppose themselves 
to him and to his kingdom. These shall not merely 
fall and be broken ; for one might recover himself, 



238 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXII. 



45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had 
heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of 
them. 

46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they 
feared the multitude, because they took him for a 
prophet 



CHAPTER XXII. 

AND Jesus answered and spake unto them again by 
parables, and said, 
2 The' kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, 
which made a r marriage for his son, 



p Lake 7 : 16 ; John 7 ; 40. . . .q Luke 14 : 16 r Rev. 19 : 7, 9. 



though with some present harm, from such a 
fall as this ; hut on them the stone shall fall as 
from heaven, and shall grind them to powder." 
Compare Matt. 12 : 32 and note. The verb here 
rendered grind to powder, is literally winnow, and 
here implies both making chaff of them and 
scattering them as chaff to the winds of heaven. 
Compare Dan. 2 : 35 ; to which Christ perhaps 
intends a reference. Observe the implication 
that there is no possibility of restoration, an 
implication adverse directly to the restoration of 
the Jews as a nation, and indirectly to the resto- 
ration of a lost soul after judgment. "Mercy 
has lighted this premonitory Are. The Lord 
sends out foreshadowings of judgment to drive 
from their unbelief, those who refuse to yield to 
gentler means." — (Arnot.) 

45, 46. According to Mark, after this parable, 
" They (i. e. the Pharisees) left Christ and went 
their way." They subsequently sent disciples as 
spies to assume an air of honest inquirers and so 
entrap him. Matt. 22 : 15 and note. 

Lessons of the Pakable. The vine (Psaimso: 
8-i6 ; jer. 2 : 21 ; Ezek. 15 : i-6 ; 19 : io) and the vineyard 
( isaiah 5 : i-7; 27:2,3) are employed in the O. T. as 
symbols of the Jewish nation. See also Matt. 
20 : 1 ; and John 15 : 1. The parallel between 
this parable and those in Psalm 80 : 8-16 and 
Isaiah 5 : 1-7 is so striking, that it is not improb- 
able that Christ and his auditors had one or both 
of those passages in mind. But a radical differ- 
ence is noticeable. In the Psalms the hedges are 
broken down and the vineyard ravaged by wild 
beasts, i. e. the Jewish nation was desolated by 
the heathen ; in Isaiah the vineyard brings forth 
wild grapes, i. e. the Jewish nation produced no 
good fruit. Here the vineyard is fruitful, but the 
husbandmen will not render up the fruits. In 
the O. T. the kingdom of God and the Jewish 
nation are treated as identical ; in the N. T. the 
vineyard is the kingdom of God, and is to be 
taken from the nation, and given to one bringing 
forth the fruits thereof. 

The householder then represents God ; the vine- 
yard the kingdom Of God (see note on verse 33), the 
hedge, and winepress, and tower, the various ad- 
vantages conferred by God upon the Jewish 
people (Rom. 9:4); the husbandmen, not the religious 
leaders of the people, but the people themselves, 
who were intrusted with the kingdom, and who 
should have brought forth the fruits of right- 
eousness in themselves, and in their children, 



each generation cultivating the succeeding gen- 
eration ; the going into a far country, is the 
seeming withdrawal of God from the earth into 
the realm of the silent and the unseen ; the 
servants are the prophets sent to the nation from 
time to time, and shamefully ill-treated ; the Son 
is Christ, the last appeal of a merciful God to an 
unfaithful nation ; the coming of the Lord of the 
vineyard is primarily God's coming in the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, when the nation was destroyed, 
and the kingdom taken from Israel and given to 
the nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, i. e. the 
elect of all lands. The practical lessons of the 
parable to our own times are as follows : The real 
foundation of national prosperity is found in God ' s 
gifts ; every nation is accountable to God, as a 
nation, and for its national use of its privileges 
and position ; the seeming indifference and real 
watchfulness of God ; the certainty of a coming 
judgment, in time for the nation, in eternity for 
the individual ; the total destruction of the un- 
faithful nation, illustrated by history, and illus- 
trating the doom of the individual ; and the 
finality of that doom, enforced by the result of 
the final judgment in this parable, as expressed 
in the words, "Grind them to powder." Verse 
42 indicates that Christ is the foundation of 
national life, as well as of Christian and church 
life, and verse 43 that the continuance of national 
prosperity is conditioned on practical righteous- 
ness. 



Ch. 22 : 1-14. PARABLE OF THE WEDDING FEAST.— 
Guilt is rNDryiDUAL and personal.— The greatest 
sin: the rejection op the Gospel.— The palse pro- 
fessor OP RELIGION : HE PROFESSES CHRIST, BUT DOES 

not put on Christ. — See analysis below. 

Analysis. — This parable, which is peculiar to 
Matthew, has been sometimes confounded with 
that of the Great Supper in Luke 14 : 15-24. We 
must believe either that Christ employed sub- 
stantially the same figure more than once in his 
ministry, though with variation both in imagery 
and in application, or else that we have here two 
different reports of the same parable. The 
former opinion appears to me the better one. 
The parallel between the two discourses is very 
clear. In both there is a supper, to which the 
guests first invited decline to come ; in both their 
places are filled up by a throng invited from the 
streets. But the difference is more marked than 
the resemblance. That parable was delivered in 



Ch. XXII.] 



MATTHEW. 



239 



3 And" sent forth his servants to call them that were 
bidden to the wedding : and they would not come. 

4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell 
them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my 



dinner ; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all 
things are ready : come unto the marriage. 

5 But they made light' of it, and went their ways, 
one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 



s Ps. 68 : 11 ; Jer. 25 : 4 j 35 : 15 ; Rev. 22 : 17 t Ps. 106 : 24, 25 ; Prov. 1 : 24, 25 ; Acts 24 : 25 ; Rom. 2 : 4. 



a Pharisee's house, this in the Temple ; that 
before the enmity of the leaders had been fully 
developed, this as a warning of their danger ; 
that represented simply a supper given by a cer- 
tain man, this a wedding-feast given by a king 
on the marriage of his son ; in that the guests 
simply absent themselves, in this they maltreat 
the servants sent to invite them ; in that they 
simply are shut out from the supper, in this 
they are destroyed, and their city burned with 
fire ; that is addressed to the remark of a by- 
stander, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the 
kingdom of God, and points out how in all ages, 
and in all communities, Christian and Jewish, 
the actual invitation to eat bread in that king- 
dom is disregarded, and portrays the reasons in 
the three excuses assigned, this is closely con- 
nected with the preceding parable, and sets forth 
in a new light, and from a different stand-point, 
the judgment against the Jewish nation for its 
rejection of the Lord. In brief, that parable 
emphasizes the Gospel invitation, the fact of 
judgment and condemnation is subordinate and 
incidental, this emphasizes the judgment and 
condemnation, the Gospel invitation is subordi- 
nate and incidental. That illustrates the grace, 
this the judgment of the Lord. It is not deroga- 
tory to Christ to suppose that he employed this 
parable twice ; it is rather a token of the skill of 
the Great Teacher that he uses substantially the 
same picture to teach lessons which in modern 
theology have often been represented as incon- 
gruous if not inconsistent. The student should 
compare with this parable that in Luke and the 
notes there. 

This parable is closely connected with the pre- 
ceding one — The Wicked Husbandmen. It is 
unfortunate that the two are separated by a 
chapter division. The two teach the same les- 
son, the, rejection of Christ by the Jews, God's 
chosen people, and their rejection and destruc- 
tion in consequence. But that represents God as 
coming to demand fruits, this to bring a gift ; 
that represents the nation as determined not to 
account for its trust, this as determined not to 
receive grace ; that is drawn from the O. T., this 
is redolent of the N. T. ; that deals with the 
Jewish nation as a nation, for the husbandmen 
conspire and act together (ch. 21 : 38), this deals 
with individuals as individuals; each one declines 
for himself the king's invitation, some being 
simply indifferent, others open in their enmity 
(verses 6, «) ; that again represents the calling of a 
new nation to whom the kingdom of God shall 



be given (ch. 21 : 43), this represents that in this 
new call each soul shall give account of itself, 
and none shall abide in the kingdom of heaven 
without personal preparation, the wedding-gar- 
ment (verse 12). That therefore teaches the unity, 
responsibility and judgment of nations, this dis- 
tributes that responsibility, and allots that judg- 
ment to the individual. 

2. The kingdom of heaven is likened 

UntO a man king (see note on Matt. 18 : 23) who 

would make a wedding feast for his son. 

The wedding festivities in the East are often 
protracted for several days, sometimes for an 

entire Week Or more (Gen. 29 : 27 ; Judges 14 : 12. Sec notes 

on John 2 : i, etc., and Matt. 25 : i). The word rendered 
marriage in this verse is the same translated wed- 
ding in the next. It properly signifies the wed- 
ding feast. "The two favorite images under 
which the prophets of the Old Covenant set 
forth the blessings of the New, and of all near 
communion with God, that of a festival (isaiah 

25:6; 65 : 13; Sol. Song 5: l), and Of a marriage (Isaiah 
61 : 10 ; 62 : 5 ; Hos. 2 : 19 ; Matt. 9:15; John 3 : 29 ; Eph. 5 : 32 ; 

2 Cor. ii : 2), meet and interpenetrate each other in 
the marriage festival here." — (Trench.) The 
fact that the guests, i. e. the disciples of Christ, 
constitute Christ's bride, exemplifies the fact 
that no figures borrowed from human life are 
adequate fully to illustrate spiritual truth. 
Even in the parable we only see through a glass 
darkly. For parallel passages of Scripture, see 
Prov. 9:3-5; Zeph. 1 : 7, 8 ; Luke 22 : 18, 30 ; 
Rev. 19 : 7. Observe, that the Bible by the 
symbol of the feast represents the religious life as 
one of joyousness, and by the symbol of the mar- 
riage as one of a most sacred and intimate fel- 
lowship with God. Observe, too, that the 
espousal takes place on earth ; the marriage is 
completed in heaven. 

3. It is not uncommon in the East, when the 
feast is ready, to send a notice to those that 
have been invited (see Est. 5:8; 6 : 14). Observe 
here the implication that the O. T. was an invita- 
tion to the feast, to which the N. T. was the 
second summons, with the declaration, All things 
are ready. Compare Gal. 4 : 4. 

4. An attempt is made by some commentators 
to find a parallel in the N. T. for this double 
sending, e. g., that the first sending is by John the 
Baptist and the earlier ministry of the twelve 
during the lifetime of the Lord, the second by 
their preaching subsequent to Pentecost. I 
should rather see in it only a testimony to the 
long-suffering and patience of God, in repeating 



240 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXII. 



6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated" 
them spitefully, and slew them. 

7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth : 
and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed" those mur- 
derers, and burned up their city. 

8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is 
ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.™ 

9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as 
ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 

io So those servants went out into the highways, and 
gathered together all, x as many as they found, both 



bad and good : and the wedding was furnished with 
guests. 

ii And when the king came in to? see the guests, he 
saw there a man which had not on a wedding 2 garment : 

12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how earnest thou 
in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he 
was a speechless. 

13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand 
and foot, and take him b away, and cast him into outer 
darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth. 



u lThess. 2 : 15 v Dan. 9 : 26; Luke 19 : 27 w ch. JO: 11, 13 ; Acts 13 : 46 ; Rev. 3 : 4; 22 : 14 x ch. 13 : 47 y Zeph. 1 : 12... 

zPs. 45: 14; Isa. 61 : 10; 2 Cor. 5:3; Eph. 4 : 24; Rev. 16 : 15 ; 19 :8....a Jer. 2: 26.... b Isa. 52 : 1 ; Rev. 21 : 27... .c ch. 8 : 12. 



and re-repeating the Gospel message, as I should 
see in the end of the parable a justification for 
refusing to cast pearls before the swine that 
trample them underfoot and turn again to rend 
the giver. — All things are ready. See note 
on Luke 14 : 17. 

5,6. In the parable in Luke the excuses of 
those that decline are given more fully. See 
notes there. Observe the two classes here. 
First are the indifferent, They made light of 
it, literally, But they caring not ; the same word 
is rendered neglect in Hebrew 2 : 3, which illus- 
trates the character of these hearers. The 
second are the open enemies of the King (verse 6). 
These two classes, the indifferent and the openly 
opposed, indicate nearly the whole Jewish na- 
tion. — The first class again are divided into two 
classes : They went their ways, one to his 
farm, the other to his commerce. Mer- 
chandise is admissible here as a translation only 
in the sense of "The act or business of trading." 
The original {mnoQla from efirtofiog, traveler) sig- 
nifies literally, a, journey for traffic. Thus it here 
indicates, the labor, not the results, of acquisition. 
One was absorbed by his possession, the other 
by his getting. "The first would enjoy what he 
already possesses ; the second would acquire 
what is as yet only in anticipation. The first 
represents the rich ; the second those that 
would be rich (i Tim. 6 : 9, with 17)." — {Trench.) 

Entreated them spitefully and slew 
them. Neglect of the invitation we can under- 
stand, but why this murdering of the king's 
heralds ? A royal feast often possesses a polit- 
ical significance. Thus it has been supposed 
that the feast recorded in Esther, ch. 1, is identi- 
cal with the great gathering called when Xerxes 
(Ahasuerus) was planning his Greek expedition. 
A refusal to attend such a feast would be signifi- 
cant of rebellion, which some might carry fur- 
ther than others. For the historical fulfillment 
of this as a prophecy of the Jewish maltreatment 
of the apostles, see Acts 4 : 3 ; 5 : 18, 40 ; 7 : 58 ; 
8 : 3 ; 12 : 3 ; 14 : 5, 19 ; 16 : 23 ; 17 : 5 ; 21 : 30 ; 
23 : 2 ; 1 Thess. 2 : 2, 14-16. Arnot gives well 
the practical application : " In our own day, it does 
not require extraordinary sagacity to perceive 
the same spirit in the relish and readiness with 



which certain classes catch up a cry against any 
one who, not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, 
has discharged his commission in full." 

7. The armies of the earth are God's armies, 
by whom he executes punishment on ungodly 

nations (Deut. 28 : 49, Ac. ; Isaiah 10 : 5, 6; Jer. 51 : 20-23). 

The direct reference here is, of course, to 
the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman 
legions. Observe that only the murderers are 
destroyed ; those who simply rejected the invita- 
tion are only rejected from the supper. Compare 
Luke 14 : 24 with 19 : 27. I would not press 
this, except so far as it indicates a gradation in 
the divine punishments. 

8. Not worthy. Compare Acts 13 : 46. 
Those that refuse God's grace, whatever the 
excellence of their character, are the unworthy ; 
those that show themselves ready to receive it 
are the worthy, whatever the natural poverty of 
their character. Luke 18 : 10-14. 

9. 10. The highways. More literally the 
confluences of the ways, i. e., the open squares and 
market-places where the people would naturally 
assemble. Observe, the invitation is to be 
extended without discrimination, and all both 
bad and good are to be brought to the feast. 
There is no condition of coming to Christ, but 
just to come. The bad are invited that they may 
be made good (i Cor. 6 : 9-11 ; Eph. 2 : 1-5). "The beau- 
tiful words of Augustine on Christ's love to his 
church may find here their application, 'He 
loved her foul that he might make her fair.' " — 
{Trench.) Compare Jer. 3 : 1-14. Of the 
"good," Nathaniel and Cornelius are illustra- 
tions (John 1 : 47 ; Acts 10 : 1, 2, 4, 22 ; compare Luke 8 : 15) ; of 

the "bad," Matthew and Zaccheus and Saul 

Of TarSUS (Matt. 9:9; Luke 19 : 2, 8 ; Acts 9:1,2; 1 Tim. 
1 : 13-16). 

11-13. It is a custom at the present day in 
the East for the host to present his guests with 
robes of honor. A story is told in Trench, of a 
vizier slain for failing to wear such a robe, his 
failure being accounted a mark of disrespect. It 
is certain that robes were an important part of 
Oriental wealth (josh. 7 : 21 ; judgeB 14 : 12 ; James 5 : 2), and 
were often given as marks of peculiar favor (Gen. 

41 : 42 ; 45 : 22 ; 1 Sam. 18 : 4 ; 2 Kings 5:5; Dan. 5:7; Esther 6 : 8), 

and, probably, were frequently given out on State 



Ch. XXIL] 



MATTHEW. 



241 



14 For" 1 many are called, but few are chosen. 

15 Then 8 went the Pharisees, and took counsel how 
they might entangle him in his talk. 

16 And they sent out unto him their disciples, with 
the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art 



true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither 
carest thou for any man ; for thou regardest not the 
person of men. 

17 Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou ? Is it law- 
ful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not ? 



d ch. 7 : 14 ; 20 : 16 ; Luke 13 : 23, 24 e Mark 12 : 13, etc. ; Luke 20 : 20, etc. 



occasions to all guests. The symbolic meaning 
of the wedding garment has been a subject of 
discussion, some Protestant writers having in- 
sisted that it represents faith, the Romish writers 
that it represents charity. Christ gives no inter- 
pretation. Here he simply teaches that though 
all, both bad and good, are invited, no one will 
be allowed in the heavenly kingdom who is not 
prepared for the company and the occasion. 
In what that preparation consists, and how pro- 
cured, he does not here teach. But other pas- 
sages in Scripture answer these questions. Our 
own righteousness is as filthy rags (isaiah 64 : 6) ; 
these God takes from us that he may clothe us 

With garments Of Salvation (Luke 15 : 22 ; Isaiak 61 : 10), 

which are washed white in the blood of the 
Lamb (Rev. 7 : 14). These we put on when we put 
on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, in baptism 
(Rom. 13: 14; Gal. 3: 26, 27), which we do, not merely 
by a belief in Christ, but by such a personal 
reception of him, that we lay off the old man and 
put on a new man in Christ Jesus (Eph. 4:24; Col. 
a : 10-14). Without these garments of holiness, 
the free gift of God (Rev. 3 : is), none can enter 
heaven (Rev. 16 : 15). The wedding garment, then, 
is neither charity nor faith, but the righteous- 
ness of the saints (Rev. 19 ;8), i. e., that radical 
change in character and life wrought by the 
spirit of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, 
without which no man can see the Lord (Heb. 
12 : 14). To be without a wedding garment, 
implied that the man thought his usual attire 
good enough for the king's wedding ; he thus 
represents those who profess to follow Christ, 
but who think themselves good enough as they 
are, and do not seek from him that new birth 
without which no man can see the kingdom of 
heaven. The lesson, then, of this incident of 
the wedding garment is that no one can enter 
heaven except through humility and a change 
of nature, that we must not only accept Jesus 
Christ openly, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and that there is discrimination in God's king- 
dom, but to be exercised by the king, not by 
his servants (Matt. 13 : 29, so), and at the door of 
the feast, not in the invitation. 

Friend. The word so rendered here (itarnoc), 
appears only here and in Matt. 11 : 19 ; 20 : 13 ; 
and 26 : 50. See note on Matthew 20 : 13.— 
Speechless, literally gagged. That he had no 
answer to make shows clearly that it was not 
beyond his power to be properly attired. The 
spiritual significance Arnot puts well. "The I 



judgment will be so conducted that the con- 
demned will be compelled to own the justice of 
their sentence." — Servants. The Greek word 
translated servants, in verse 13, is not the same as 
that rendered servants in verse 3. The one are 
the messengers of the Gospel, the other are the 
angels. Compare Matt. 13 : 39, 49. — Outer 
darkness. See note on Matt. 8 : 12. 

14. This verse is the text of the parable. The 
many called include, first, the entire Jewish 
nation, who are not chosen, because they refuse 
the Gospel invitation ; second, the Gentiles, of 
whom they alone are chosen who see and seek 
in the kingdom of God that in which it consists, 
"righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." Rom. 14 : 17. 

Ch. 22 : 15-22. CONCERNING TRIBUTE TO CiESAR.— 
The GROUND AND the limitation of the duty of 

OBEDIENCE TO CIVTL GOVERNMENT. 

This incident is also given by Mark (12 : 13-17), 
and Luke (20 : 20-26). It occurred in the Temple, 
during the last day of Christ's public teaching. 

15. Took counsel. That is, held a consul- 
tation ; no official meeting, as of the Sanhedrim, 
is indicated. Their previous attempt (Matt. 21 : 23) 
appears to have been without concert or prepa- 
ration. Luke describes more fully their object : 
"They sent forth spies, which should feign 
themselves just men, that they might take hold 
of his words, that so they might deliver him 
unto the power and authority of the governor," 
i. e., the Roman governor Pilate. 

16. Their disciples. Concealing them- 
selves, and sending persons who should be un- 
known to Jesus. — With the Herodians. 
These are mentioned only here and in Mark 
12 : 13, etc., and Mark 3 : 6. The reference to- 
the leaven of Herod in Mark 8 : 15 contains per- 
haps an indirect allusion to them. They are not 
described by Josephus or any contemporary 
writers. Their character can only be conjec- 
tured from their name. They were probably a 
political rather than an ecclesiastical party, the 
adherents of the Herodian family, who were the 
creatures of Cassar. The Herodians, therefore, 
would have been ready to prefer an accusation 
against any one who counselled refusal to pay 
the Roman tax. — Master, we know, etc. 
They purported to be true inquirers, to desire 
counsel, and by flattery sought to draw him on 
to a repudiation of the Roman tax. To them is 
applicable the proverb which Alford quotes: 



242 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXII. 



18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, 
Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? 

19 Shew me the tribute money. And they brought 
unto him a penny. 

20 And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and 
superscription ? 



21 They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto 
them, Render f therefore unto Caesar the things which 
are Caesar's, and unto Gods the things that are 
God's 

22 When they had heard these words, they mar- 
velled, and left him, and went their way. 



f ch. 17 : 25, 27 ; Rom. 13 : 7 g Mai. 1 : 6-8 ; 3 : 8-10. 



The devil never lies so foully as when he tells 
the truth. Compare with their language here 
their characterization of Christ on other occa- 
sions, e. g. John 7 : 12 ; 8 : 48 ; 9 : 16. 

17. Is it lawful to give tribute unto 
Caesar, or not ? Mark adds the still more 
direct question : Shall we give, or shall we not 
give? Caesar was the official name of the Roman 
emperor. The reigning Caesar was Tiberius. 
The tribute, literally census money, i. e. poll tax, 
was paid by every Jew. It was inquisitorial, 
followed a careful taking of the census, in which 
every man was obliged to report his family, his 
property and his income (see note on Luke 2 : 1), and 
was extremely odious to the Jews, who counted 
it a badge of their national degradation (compare 
note on Matt. 9 : 9). Its payment was resisted by 
some, especially among the Galileans, not only 
on political but also on religious grounds. Deut. 
17 : 15 might have been regarded as a quasi jus- 
tification for their resistance. The revolt re- 
ferred to in Acts 5 : 37 (see note there) appears to 
have been caused by this tax. 

18. But Jesus perceived their wicked- 
ness. Luke characterizes it more clearly as 
craftiness, Mark as hypocrisy. — Why tempt ye 
me, hypocrites ? " Jesus shows them that he 
is true, as they had said." — (Bengel.) 




DENABIT/S — A. PENNY. 

19, 20. Show me the tribute money. 

Literally, the coin of the census, i. c. the coin in 
which the tribute is paid. — They brought unto 
him a penny. Literally, a denarius, a Roman 
coin equal to about seventeen cents of our money. 
The annexed cut shows the image and super- 
scription referred to. By requiring them to 
bring him the coin he compels them to answer, 
tacitly, their own question ; for the Jewish 
rabbis taught that, "wheresoever the money of 
any king is current, there the inhabitants ac- 
knowledge that king for their lord." — (Light- 
foot.) By accepting the Roman coinage they 
accepted the Roman government and all the con- 
sequent responsibilities and obligations. 



21. Render unto Caesar. Rather here, 
give back to Ccesar. Compare for similar use of 
the same verb (d7todiSu11.it), Luke 4 : 20 ; 9 : 42. 
They ask, is it lawful to give, he replies, give 
back. Since they accepted in the coinage of 
Caesar the benefits of his government, they were 
bound to give back a recompense in tribute. — 
The things that are God's. Not the tem- 
ple tribute merely, but all things. As the ac- 
ceptance of Caesar's government involves the 
duty of tax-paying to him, so the acceptance of 
every good and perfect gift from above involves 
the duty of supreme allegiance to God. 

Lessons of this incident. The problem. 
The enquirers appeared to be honest disciples 
(Luke 20 : 20), approached Christ with the language 
of respect (verse 16) and with a question on which 
the nation was divided. If Christ replied, Pay 
tribute, he would render himself obnoxious to 
the people, who, without exception, expected to be 
delivered from the Roman yoke and Roman tax- 
ation by the Messiah. If he answered, Pay not, 
he would involve himself with the Roman govern- 
ment, and afford a real ground for the false 
accusation afterwards preferred against him (Luke 
23 : 2). The latter answer the Pharisees hoped to 
elicit from Christ. — Christ's solution. He com- 
pels the questioners to expose their own incon- 
sistency. They accept in the coin of Rome the 
Roman government. So long as they do this they 
are bound to give back support to it. For so 
long as the citizen accepts the benefit of a govern- 
men the owes it allegiance and obedience. At the 
same time Christ affords both the ground and 
the limitation of this obedience. The powers 
that be are ordained of God. Because we are to 
render to God the things that are God's we are 
to render to Cassar the things that are Caesar's, 
for Caesar is of God ; but when Caesar requires 
what God forbids we are to disobey. For illus- 
tration of the duty of obedience to human law, 
see Rom. 13 : 1-7 ; 1 Cor. 7 : 21-24 ; Ephes. 6 : 
5-8 ; Col. 3 : 22-25 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 13-17— For illus- 
tration of the duty of disobedience, under the 
higher law of allegiance to God, see Dan. 3 :. 
18 ; 6 : 10 ; Acts 4 : 19 ; 5 : 29. Certain of the 
commentators see in Christ's answer here a solu- 
tion of the much-vexed question of Church and 
State. But I am unable to see how it has any- 
thing more than a remote bearing on that prob- 
lem. — Spiritual lesson. This Dean Alford sug- 
gests. It can hardly have been recognized by 




Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Ccesar's, and unto 
God the things that are Goal's:' 



Ch. XXII.] 



MATTHEW. 



243 



23 The h same day came to him the Sadducees, which 1 
say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, 

24 Saying, Master, Moses said, If J a man die, having 
no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise 
up seed unto his brother. 

25 Now there were with us seven brethren : and the 
first when he had married a wife, deceased, and, hav- 
ing no issue, left his wife unto his brother : 

26 Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the 
seventh. 

27 And last of all the woman died- also. 

28 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall 
she be of the seven? for they all had her. 



29 Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, 
not" knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. 

30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor 
are given in marriage, but are as the angels' of God in 
heaven. 

31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have 
ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, 
saying, 

32 l m am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, 
and the God of Jacob ? God is not the God of the 
dead, but of the living. 

33 And when the multitude heard this, they were 
astonished" at his doctrine. 



hMark 12 : 18, etc. ; Luke 20 : 27, etc.... i Acls 23 : 8 j Deut. 25 : 5 ; Ruth 1 : 11 k John 20 : 9 1 ch. 18 : 10; 1 John 3: 2 m Eiod. 

i : 6, 15, 16: Heb. 11 : 16 n ch. 7 : 28 ; Mark 12 : 17. 



the auditors, but it is perhaps none the less in- 
volved, though indirectly, in the second clause 
of Christ's reply. " Man is the coinage and bears 
the image of God (Gen. 1 : 27) ; and this image is 

not lOSt by the fall (Gen. 9 : 6 ; Acts 17 : 29 ; James 3 : 9). 

We owe then ourselves to God ; and this solemn 
duty is implied, of giving ourselves to Him, with 
all that we have and are." 

Ch. 22 : 23-33. THE SADDDCEES SILENCED.— The 
Scripture proves the resurrection. — Faith in 
God's omnipotence removes at.t. difficulties. 

This conference is reported also in Mark 12 : 
18-27, and Luke 20 : 27-40.— See the latter pas- 
sage and notes there. 

23. The Sadducees. The materialists and 
infidels of the first century. They denied not 
merely the resurrection of the body, but also the 
immateriality and immortality of the soul (Acts 
23 : 8). For brief statement of their history and 
opinions, see note on Matt. 3 : 7. — Which say. 
Rather, saying ; i. e. they came for the very pur- 
pose of arguing the point with Jesus. 

24-28. The law referred to is recorded in 
Deut. 25 : 5, 6. For illustration of its exercise 
see Ruth, chap. 4. The case here proposed was 
doubtless an imaginary one, invented for the 
purpose of presenting an objection to the doc- 
trine of a future life. An illustration of the 
spirit of much modern theological controversy. 

2!). Not knowing, i. e. not understanding. 
Two frequent causes of religious error are here 
hinted at : first, a failure to understand the Scrip- 
ture, which we often read, as they did, either 
superficially and carelessly, or blinded by our 
theological prejudices ; second, a failure to real- 
ize the power of God, it being a common error 
of theological and philosophical reasoning to 
limit the divine power to those forms of exercise 
with which we are acquainted. Observe the fact 
that the Bible expressly rests the doctrine of the 
resurrection on the exercise of divine power (Acts 

26 : 8 ; Rom. 4 : 17 ; 8 : 11 ; 1 Cor. 6 : 1*). 

30. Compare Luke 20 : 34-36 which gives the 
reply more fully. For a consideration of the 
Bible idea of marriage see notes on Matt. 19 : 
4-6. This declaration does not imply that the 



angels are the spirits of the departed ; on the 
contrary, it discriminates between the two, for 
it compares the one to the other. Nor does 
it imply that there is no recognition of friends 
in heaven and no perpetuation of friendship. 
Nor does it involve the literal resurrection of 
the earthly body ; on the contrary, it implies a 
radical difference between the celestial and the 
terrestrial body, (compare i Cor. 15:42-44, 50.) But 
Christ declares that as in heaven there will be no 
more death (Luke 20 : 36), so there will be no succes- 
sion and renewal of life, which is the main object 
of marriage ; hence the physical relation of mar- 
riage will not continue to exist ; and that alone 
constitutes the difficultly in the case proposed. 

31, 32. Christ refers the Sadducees, not to 
the teaching of the later prophets, but to Moses 
whom they had cited. And he carries them back 
to God's covenant with Israel as a nation, entered 
into at the burning bush (Luke 20 : 37 ; Exod. 3 : 6). 
Observe that both here and there the language 
is in the present tense, I am the God of Abraham, 
etc. Thus the covenant, which rendered the 
Jews God's peculiar people, is itself called to 
witness to the resurrection of the dead. Christ's 
use of this passage is inconsistent with the idea 
of an intermediate unconscious state, and equally 
so with the position of those who maintain that 
the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is 
not taught in the earlier books of the O. T. 
Christ shows that it is not only taught there, 
but is inwrought into the very structure of the 
teaching, and asserts that the Sadducees fail 
to recognize it only because they know not 
the Scriptures. A comparison of Christ's lan- 
guage here with Rom. 14 : 9, Christ is "Lord 
both of the dead and the living," affords a striking 
illustration of the verbal contradictions which 
are not infrequent in Scripture. But the con- 
tradiction is merely verbal ; the argument there 
really confirms the argument here ; for Paul cites 
Christ's death and resurrection, as an evidence 
that he is the Lord of those that die, who are also 
raised from the dead that he may be their Lord. 
Luke repeats Christ's practical deduction, which 
is the same as Paul's : "All live to him." See 
Luke 20 : 38 and note, and compare Rom. 14 : 8. 



244 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXII. 



34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had 
put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered to- 
gether. 

35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked 
him a question, tempting him, and saying, 

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the 
law? 



37 Jesus said unto him, Thou? shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
with all thy mind. 

38 This is the first and great commandment. 

39 And the second is like unto it,i Thou shalt love 
thy neighbour as thyself. 1 



o Luke 10 : 25, etc p Deut. 6:5; 10 : 12 q Lev. 19 : 18. 



33. Doctrine. Rather, teaching; here cer- 
tainly not what he taught, for the doctrine of the 
resurrection was generally accepted among the 
people, but the manner in which he confirmed it 
and confounded those who opposed it. 

Cll. 22 : 34-40. THE GREAT COMMANDMENT.— Christ's 

CREED : LOVE. — CHRIST'S DEFINITION OP PIETY AND 
PHILANTHROPY. 

Parallel to this is Mark 13 : 28-34. The ac- 
count is not given by Luke or John. But an 
incident analogous is found in Luke (10 : 25, etc.), 
where Christ, in answer to a further inquiry, de- 
fines by a parable what is a neighbor, and also 
interprets the nature of true love. The two 
passages should be studied together. That the 
two are not different reports of the same inci- 
dent is evident, because : that reported by Luke 
(a) occurs earlier in Christ's ministry ; (6) prob- 
ably in Perea ; (c) the inquirer gives the sum- 
mary of the law ; (d) Christ's object is to humble 
a self-righteous inquirer. This occurs (a) at the 
close of Christ's ministry ; (6) in Jerusalem ; (c) 
Christ gives the summary of the law ; (d) his 
purpose is the rebuke of Pharisaic dialectics, and 
the inculcation of love as the essence of true 
religion. 

34. That he had put the Sadducees to 
silence. Literally, had muzzled the Sadducees. 
In this victory over their opponents they exulted. 
Observe, the Sadducees, though probably not con- 
vinced, were silenced ; they could make no reply. 

35. A lawyer. That is, one versed in the 
rabbinical laws ; a Jewish theologian. In Mark 
he is called a scribe. The latter phrase appears 
to have been an official designation of a recog- 
nized teacher ; the former an unofficial designa- 
tion of one learned in Jewish laws, both scriptural 
and traditional. — Tempting him. He subse- 
quently accepted Christ's answer heartily (Mark 
12 : 32-34). It does not follow that he was an honest 
inquirer in the beginning. I judge that he was 
neither a caviller, nor a disciple, but one curious 
to see what reply Christ would make to one of 
the puzzling theological problems of the day. 

36. Compare Mark's language (Mark 12 : 28). 
The question was a common one. Some Phari- 
sees asserted that the Sabbath commandment 
was first in importance ; others, the law against 
idolatry ; others put first the rabbinical rules re- 
specting ablutions. 



37. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, 
etc. The language of this verse is not that of 
mere emphatic iteration. Each word has its 
own peculiar significance. The heart is the seat 
of the affections and emotions. God calls not 
merely for obedience, but for love. Compare 
Prov. 23 : 26 ; Jer. 3 : 14. The word soul should 
rather be rendered life. This is unquestionably 
the primary significance of the Greek (i/>i;zij), 
which is derived from a verb meaning to breathe. 
It signifies the vital principle, and in the N. T. 
generally, either physical life, as in Matt. 2 : 20 ; 
Acts 20 : 24 ; 27 : 10 ; or all that is embodied in 
our word life in its deeper significance. It 
would generally be better translated by the 
word life. Thus, What shall it profit a man to 
gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? is 
really, Lose his own life, that to which the 

WOrld Should minister (see note on Matt. 16 : 25) ; Ye 

shall find rest unto your souls, is, Rest unto your 
lives, i. e. in your whole experience. Here the 
command is, Love with thy whole life, i. e., love 
must not only manifest itself in feeling, it must 
rule the whole life, by ruling its source and 
springs. "The reason must be a reason acting 
in the spirit of love ; the conscience must be a 
conscience acting in the atmosphere of love ; the 
taste must be a taste acting in the 6pirit and 
atmosphere of love — love to God and love to 
man. The appetites and passions, and every 
other faculty, in all their power and variety and 
versatility, may act, but they will act as steeds 
that feel the one rein, which goes back to the 
hands of the one driver, whose name is Love." — 
{Henry Ward Seecher.) John 14 : 15, 23 ; 2 Cor. 
5 : 14 ; 1 John 2:5; 4 : 16, illustrate this com- 
mand. The mind embraces the intellectual 
powers and activities, whether employed in 
study, in business, or in social activity. A 
supreme love toward God must be the inspira- 
tion of the whole mental life, and furnish its 
purpose. Parallel to this is Prov. 12 : 5 ; Psalm 
119 : 15, 97 ; 2 Cor. 10 : 5 ; Phil. 1 : 9. Mark 
adds, with all thy strength. That is, the love 
must be one of enthusiasm and power, not a 
sentiment, but a working force. Parallel to this 
is Eccles. 9 : 10 ; Rom. 12 : 11 ; Eph. 6:6, 7 ; 
Col. 3 : 23. The commandment is quoted by 
Christ from Deut. 6 : 4, 5. 

39. Like unto it. Because love is always 
the same in character, whether it goes out 



Ch. XXII.] 



MATTHEW. 



245 



40 On these two commandments' hang all the law 
and the prophets. 

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, 
Jesus asked them, 

42 Saying, What" think ye of Christ ? whose son is 
he? They say unto him, The Son of David. 

43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in 
spirit call him' Lord, saying, 



44 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my 
right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool ? 

45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his 
son ? 

46 And" no man was able to answer him a word ; 
neither 1, durst any man, from that day forth, ask him 
any more questions. 



rRom. 13 : 9; Jas. 2 : 8.. 



i Mark 12 : 35, etc. ; Luke 20 : 41, etc....! Vs. 110 : 1 ; Acts 2: 34, 35; Heb. 1 1 13; 10: 12, 13. 
v Mark 12 : 34; Luke 20 : 40. 



, .0 Luke 14 : 6. 



toward God or toward man ; and because neither 
can exist without the other. True piety and 
morality can never be divorced. Piety without 
morality is superstition ; morality without piety 
is conventional and insincere. Compare 1 John 
4 : 7, 8, 20.— Thy neighbour as thyself. On, 
Who is my neighbour? see Luke 10 : 25 and 
James 1 : 27. Observe that self-love is not 
wrong, when it is mated to and balanced by love 
to others. Observe, too, that the command here 
goes farther than the Golden Rule (Matt. - : 12), 
though one interprets the other ; that affords a 
measure of conduct ; this calls for that love 
which can alone inspire right conduct. The 
precept is quoted from Lev. 19 : 18. 

40. Remember that Christ came to fulfill the 
law and the prophets (Matt. 5 : n and note) ; he here, 
therefore, declares the end of his mission, viz., 
the inspiration of love toward God and man. 
Love is the highest of the graces (1 Cor. ch. 13), the 

fulfillment Of the law (Rom. 13 : 9, 10 ; Gal. 5 : 13, 14), 

the test and measure of Christian experience 
(ijohn3:w). Neither a ceremony, a creed, nor 
an emotional experience, but love, is the heart of 
the religion of Jesus Christ. It is by love, as 
Christ defines it here, that the soul lives in 
harmony with God ; by love, as Paul defines it 
in 1 Cor. ch. 13, that he is to live in harmony with 
his fellow-men ; and by love that he is to secure 
harmony in himself. "There is but one pilot 
from the cradle to the grave — there is but one 
pilot from this world to the next — and his name 
is Zone." — {Henry Ward Beecher.) But this love 
is not merely an emotion, or sentiment, or an 
impulse, but a principle, which seated in the 
heart, rules the life, inspires the mind, and im- 
parts strength to the whole man. Observe, that 
the religion of Jesus Christ does not call for the 
suppression of man's powers, but for the highest 
conceivable inspiration and activity of the whole 
being, under the summer influence of love, and 
this the highest conceivable form of love, love 
received from and going out to God. 

Ch. 22 : 41-46. THE PHARISEES BAFFLED. — The 
divinity op the messiah pkoved prom the old 
Testament. 

This incident is recorded also in Mark 12 : 35-37 
and Luke 20 : 41-44. Compare Mark's account. 



42. What think ye of the Messiah ? 

The word Christ is not a proper name, but a 
title. The question is not, What think ye of me 
personally ? but, What think ye of the Messiah 
whom all are expecting ? See note on names of 
Jesus, page 21. — The Son of David. This 
was the common opinion, and it was true (Luke 
i : 32; Rom. i : 3), but not the whole truth. It was 
not generally believed by the Jews that the 
Messiah should be divine. Jesus was condemned 
for blasphemy in calling himself the Son of God 
(Matt. 26 : 63-65). In this colloquy he proves out of 
the Scripture that the Messiah of prophecy was 
to be the Son of God. 

43. In spirit. Mark's language is yet more 
clear, By the Holy Ghost: " a weighty declaration 
by our Lord of the inspiration of the prophetic 
Scriptures." — (Alford.) 

44. The quotation is from Psalm 110. It is 
one frequently referred to in the N. T. as pro- 
phetic Of the Messiah (Acts 2 : 34, etc. ; 1 Cor. 15 : 25 ; Heb. 

1 : 13 ; 5 : 6 ; 7 : 17, 21 j 10 : 13). It is evident, from its 
use here and in these passages, that it was gen- 
erally so regarded by the Jews. The language 
of the verse cited (ver. 1) is unambiguous. 
"There was not any one on earth in the time of 
David to whom it could be applicable ; any one 
whom he would call his "Lord" or superior. 
If, therefore, the Psalm was written by David, it 
must have referred to the Messiah, to one whom 
he owned as his Superior, his Lord, his Sover- 
eign." — (Barnes.) — Sit thou on my right 
hand. A place of the highest honor (1 Kings 2 : 19 ; 
1 Sam. 20 : 25; Matt. 20 : 21 ). — Till I make thine 
enemies thy footstool. Alford and Tichen- 
dorf, instead of footstool, read under thy feet. 
Putting the feet on captives taken in war was a 
common Oriental method of symbolizing com- 
plete triumph OVer them (Joshua 10 : 24 ; 2 Sam. 22 : 41 ). 

Parallel to this promise is 1 Cor. 15 : 25 and Heb. 
10 : 13. 

46. Neither durst any one from that 
day forth ask him any more. That is, for 
the purpose of cavilling. His disciples asked 
him questions subsequently (Matt. 24 : 3 ; 26 : 22; John 
14 : 5) ; and the effect of these instructions on the 
common people was not to repel, but to attract 

them (Mark 12 : 37). 



246 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXIII. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THEN spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his 
disciples 
2 Saying, The™ scribes and the Pharisees sit in 
Moses seat : 



3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, 
that observe and do ; but do not ye after their works ; 
for 1 they say, and do not. 

4 For they bind heavy burdens/ and grievous to be 
borne, and lay them on men's shoulders ; but they 
themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 



w Mai. 2 : 7. . . .x Rom. 2 : 21- 



,y Acts 15 : 10. 



Ch. 23. CHRIST'S FAREWELL DISCOURSE LN THE 
TEMPLE. — Pharisaism described. It is bcrdensome 

AND UNSYMPATHETIC (3-4), OSTENTATIOUS (5-7), A 
HINDRANCE TO TRUE RELIGION (13), AVARICIOUS AND 
HYPOCRITICAL (14), ZEALOUS FOR SECT BUT NOT FOR 
SOULS (15), INGENIOUS BUT CORRUPT IN CASUISTRY 
(16-22), SCRUPULOUS IN CEREMONIALS, INDIFFERENT 
TO TRUE LIFE (23, 24), SCRUPULOUS IN EXTERNAL MO- 
RALITY, INDIFFERENT AS TO THE SPIRIT (25-28), SELF- 
HIGHTEOUS AND SELF-CONFIDENT (29-31), APPLAUDED 
BY MEN, CONDEMNED BY GOD (32-39). 

This chapter constitutes the closing public 
address of Christ. After delivering it he de- 
parted from the Temple, and gave no more 
instruction except privately to his own disciples. 
(Matt. 24 : i.) It is one discourse ; the attempt to 
interpret it as a series of fragments collected by 
Matthew, requires no other refutation than the 
simple reading of the discourse. On other oc- 
casions (Luke 11 : 42-54 and 13 : 33-35) SOme Of the Same 

thoughts and almost the identical expressions 
here recorded were used. But we must either sup- 
pose that Christ not infrequently repeated the 
same or substantially the same discourse on dif- 
ferent occasions, or we must give up all reliance 
on the historical trustworthiness of the Evangel- 
ists as reporters. Matthew alone gives this dis- 
course fully; Mark (12:38-40) and Luke (20:45-47) 
give a suggestion of it. It stands at the close of 
Christ's public ministry, and is its consummation 
as the Sermon on the Mount is its inauguration. 
The burden of this, as of that, is a warning 
against the irreligion of Judea's religious teach- 
ers ; but that is affirmative, this denunciatory, 
that points out the right way, this is a solemn 
condemnation of the wrong way. The whole 
discourse is an illustration of the precept, Abhor 
that which is evil (Rom 12: 9), and of the "wrath 
of the Lamb" against all unrighteousness, and 
interprets a phase of Christ's character, and 
therefore of God's character, which modern 
sentimental philosophy is fond of ignoring, his 
passionate and vehement abhorrence of sin. 
Christ's example is in all things a pattern for 
his followers ; and his spirit of indignation we 
are to imbibe, as well as his spirit of patient, 
long-suffering love. This philippic, therefore, is 
a sufficient justification for the disciple, when 
the occasion demands a similar disclaimer and 
denunciation of ecclesiastical oppression and 
hypocritical pretence. Yet its peculiar commin- 
gled character should be observed ; it is both a 
philippic and a lament, the language of vehement 



indignation and poignant sorrow. Terrible in 
its invective, it ends in an outcry of infinite, 
divine pathos and compassion. The discourse 
is by its construction naturally divided into 
three parts : (1) warnings against the spirit of 
ostentation which characterized the Scribes and 
Pharisees (verses 1-12) ; (2) solemn denunciation 
of their hypocrisy (verses is-33) ; (3) conclusion and 
farewell to the temple and Jews (verses 34-39). 

1 . Luke says In the audience of all the people, 
thus emphasizing the fact that it was a public 
discourse, Christ confutes the Pharisees in col- 
loquy, then denounces their ostentation and 
hypocrisy, 

2-4. Scribes and Pharisees. See notes 
on Matt. 3 : 7; 5 : 20 — Sit in Moses' seat. 
Because members of the Jewish Sanhedrim or 
Council (see note on Matt. 2 : 4) which claimed to have 
originated in Moses' appointment (Numb. 11 : 17, 24) 
and which was the sole political representative 
of Jewish nationality. The word seat here is 
equivalent to our word bench, as in the phrase 
"The judicial bench;" and the meaning is not, 
"Do all things which they, as successors of 
Moses, out of his law, command you to observe ;" 
it is not an endorsement of them as teachers, but 
a direction to obey their commands as Jewish 
magistrates. Compare note on Matt. 22 : 15-22, p. 
204, and ref. there. That this does not impose, as 
the Koman Catholic commentators claim, a duty 
of implicit obedience to church authorities, what- 
ever their character, is evident from Matt. 16 : 6. 
Observe, however, that the bad example of a 
religious teacher is no excuse for not following 
what is right in his instructions, and that gener- 
ally Christ's method of emancipating the soul 
from oppressive laws, whether ecclesiastical or 
political, is not by direct attack on the laws, but 
by such a general development of the soul as 
makes it superior to and eventually free from 
them. See note on Matt. 5 : 19. — For they say 
and do not. Compare Rom. 2 : 18-24, and 
contrast 1 Cor. 4 : 16 ; 11 : 1 ; Phil. 3 : 17.— 
Heavy burdens. By their minute and exact- 
ing ritualism. For illustration of its charac- 
ter see notes on Matt. 12 : 2 ; and Mark 7 : 2. — 
But they will not move them. Not, it 
seems to me, They are indifferent and neglectful 
of their own laws ; this does not seem to have 
been the case ; but, Though rigorous in making 
laws, they proffer no sympathy or help to those 
that struggle to fulfill them. There is this char- 
acteristic difference between the religion of Jesus 



Ch. XXIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



247 



5 But 2 all their works they do for to be seen of men : 
they make broad their phylacteries, 8 and enlarge the 
borders of their garments, 



6 And b love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the 
chief seats in the synagogues, 

7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of 
men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 



i ch. 6 : 1-18. . . .a Num. 15 : 38. . . ,b Mark 12 : 38, etc. ; Luke 11 : 43, etc. 



Christ and all false religions and all corruptions 
of Christianity. The latter only enact laws ; the 
former comes to impart power. See John 1 : 12 ; 
Rom. 8 : 3, 4 ; 2 Tim. 1 : 7. 

5. In this and the two following verses Christ 
exposes the motives of the righteousness of 
Pharisaism, viz., desire of applause. Compare 
Matt. 6 : 1-18. — They make broad their phy- 
lacteries. These were strips of parchment, on 
which were written four passages of Scripture, 
viz., Exod. 13 : 2-10 ; 11-17 ; Deut. 6:4-9; 13-22. 
These were placed in a box of black calfskin and 
bound on the arm or forehead. The custom 
grew out of a literal interpretation of Deut. 6 : 8 
and Exod. 13 : 9, but seems to have originated 
during the captivity. Minute regulations are 
given in the rabbinical books as to methods of 
wearing, &c. A similar practice is alluded to by 
Chrysostom as prevalent in his day : "So many 
of our women now wear the Gospels hung from 
their necks." Our cut illustrates one of these 




PH1LACTEKT IN USE. 

From Jes sup's " Women of Arabia.'" 

phylacteries in use. They are employed even 
now in Mohammedan countries, the inscriptions 
being taken from the Koran. The phylactery is 
worn by modern Jews only on special occasions. 
What the Pharisees made broad was the case, 
not the parchments within. 

And enlarge the borders of their gar- 
ments. The ordinary outer garment of the 
Jews was a quadrangular piece of cloth, to each 
of the four corners of which, in conformity with 
Numb. 15 : 38, 39, and Deut. 22 : 12, a tassel was 
attached, as shown in the accompanying illustra- 
tion. Each tassel had a conspicuous thread of 
deep blue to symbolize the heavenly origin of 
the commandments, of which it was intended to 



serve as a reminder. The whole edge of the 
garment appears also to have been fringed, the 
ends of the threads composing the woof being 
left. Illustrations of the sacredness attached to 




FBINGED GARMENT. 

this fringe and tassels are afforded by Matt. 
9 : 20 ; 14 : 36 ; Luke 8 : 44. The object of the 
original commandment, Chrysostom gives well, 
in comparing the wearing of this fringe to the 
binding of a thread round the finger as a re- 
minder. These rebukes of Christ applied to our 
own time, condemn the spirit, however mani- 
fested, which assumes a peculiar dress for the 
purpose of making a show of piety. 

6, 7. And love the first places at feasts. 
Not rooms in the modern and common sense of 
the term, but the chief seats at the table. Every 
seat had, according to its locality, its peculiar 
dignity. See Luke 14 : 7, note. — And the chief 
seats in the synagogues. At the upper 
end of the synagogue stood the ark or chest 
containing the Book of the Law. This portion 
of the synagogue answered to the chancel in a 
modern church. Near it were the chief seats, 
which were usually occupied by the elders of the 
synagogue. Compare with Christ's condemna- 
tion of the Pharisees here, James 2 : 2, 3. — And 
greetings in the market-places. As man- 
ifestations of the reverence of their fellow-men. 
On the form of Jewish salutation see note on 
Luke 10 : 4.— And to be called Rabbi. A 
title of respect given by the Jews to their relig- 
ious teachers, and often addressed to our Lord 
without rebuke, being often translated Master. 

(Matt. 26 : 25, 49 ; Mark 9:5; 11 : 21 ; John 1 : 38 ; 3 : 2, 26 ; 4 : 31 ; 

6 : 25, &c.) To it very nearly answers in significance 
our modern title, Doctor. Its use is thought to 
have arisen about the time of Herod the Great. 
There were degrees of honor in the title, Rabbi 
being considered higher than Rab, and Rabban 



248 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXIII. 



8 But be not ye called Rabbi : for one is your Mas- 
ter, even Christ ; and all ye are brethren. 

9 And call no man your father upon earth ; for one 
is your" 1 Father, which is in heaven. 



io Neither be ye called masters : for one is your 
Master, even Christ. 

n But" he that is greatest among you, shall be your 
servant. 



c Jas. 3:1 d ch. 6 : 9 e ch. 20 : 26, 27. 



than Rabbi. The Pharisees, though they loved it, 
assumed to be indifferent to it. Lightf oot quotes 
the rabbinical motive, Love the work, but hate 
the title. 

8. But be not ye called Rabbi : for one 
is your teacher. The best manuscripts omit 
from this verse the words even, Christ, and give a 
different word for Master from that rendered 
Master below in verse 10. (Here it is SiduoxuXoi;, 
there it is xa3-(jy>jr>/;r.) Verses 8-10 then, literally 
rendered, will read thus : '■'■But be not ye called 
Rabbi ; for one is your Teacher, and all ye are 
brethren. And call no one your father upon the 
earth ; for one is your Father, the Heavenly. Nei- 
ther be ye called leaders ; for one is your Leader, 
Christ." That by the "teacher " is intended the 
Holy Spirit is indicated by Prov. 1 : 23 ; Jer. 31 : 
33, 34; John 14 : 26 ; 16 : 13, 14 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 13 ; 1 
John 2 : 20. If so, " we have God in his Trinity, 
here declared to us as the only Father, Leader 
(Rom. 2 : 19), and Teacher of Christians, the only 
One, in all these relations, on whom they can rest 
or depend. They are all brethren : all substantially 
squal — none by office or precedence nearer to Ood 
than another ; none standing between his brother and 
God.'''' — (Alford.) Observe, in confirmation of 
this, how Christ separates himself from man and 
ranks himself with God, who is our only leader. 

(Ephea. 5 : 1.) 

9. And call no man your Father upon 
earth. The title of "Father" appears to have 
been given in early times to priests and prophets 

(Judges 17: 10; 18: 19; 2 Kings 6 : 21 ; 13: u) and in later 

times, even by Paul, to the members of the 
Sanhedrim (Acts 22 : 1). In its ordinary use it 
carried with it a recognition of paternal author- 
ity in spiritual things, the Jewish Rabbi being 
regarded, as is the Roman Catholic priest of 
to-day, as an authority in matters of faith and 
conscience. — And all ye are brethren. Com- 
pare Ephes. 3 : 15 ; Rev. 1 : 9 ; 22 : 9. 

10. Neither be ye called leaders : for one 
is your Leader, even Christ. The Pharisees 
all claimed to accept the Old Testament as a 
divine authority ; but they were divided into 
schools or sects, under human leaders, as the 
School of Hillel and the School of Shammai, and 
the zealous among them were more anxious for 
the triumph of their school than for the elucida- 
tion of the truth. 

Respecting the application of these three 
precepts to our own times, observe (1) that it is 
not the mere use of the words Rabbi, Father, and 
Leader, which Christ condemns, but the spirit of 



strife and vainglory which leads to their use ; 
(2) that the three prohibitions are not mere 
reiterations of the same prohibition in different 
forms, but condemn essentially different though 
cognate faults ; (3) that those faults are as 
truly manifest in modern Christian usages as 
in ancient Jewish usages. The first prohibition, 
" Be not ye called Rabbi," forbids all ecclesiastical 
titles given and received for fhe mere sake of 
honor, and indicating no real office. In direct 
violation of its spirit, and almost in direct viola- 
tion of its letter,* is the custom of conferring the 
title Doctor of Divinity on clergymen. I concur 
heartily with Mr. Barnes' note on this point. 
"This title (Rabbi) corresponds with the title 
Doctor of Divinity as applied to ministers of the 
Gospel : and, so far as I can see, the spirit of the 
Saviour's command is violated by the reception 
of such a title, as really as it would have been by 
their being called Rabbi. It makes a distinction 
among ministers. It tends to engender pride 
and a sense of superiority in those who obtain it, 
and envy and a sense of inferiority in those who 
do not ; and the whole spirit and tendency of it 
is contrary to the simplicity that is in Christ." 
The title Reverend is legitimate only as a con- 
venient method of indicating the office of pastor or 
minister. But this prohibition does not seem to 
me to forbid such inartificial titles as are the 
natural and spontaneous expressions of respect 
and affection, e.g., "Pastor Harms," "Father 
Taylor," nor such as indicate a real office, e. g., 
"Bishop Simpson," "Dean Alford." Thesecond 
prohibition, Call no man your Father, forbids the 
exercise of spiritual authority over the conscience 
by pope, priest, or pastor, and equally forbids 
the disciples of Christ from submitting to such 
authority. It condemns both the ambition in 
priest and pastor which seeks authority over the 
conscience, and the spiritual indolence in laymen 
which yields to such claims in order to avoid the 
necessity of personal search for the truth. This 
prohibition is interpreted by such passages as 
Rom. 14 : 4, 10, 12 ; 1 Pet. 5:3; Gal. 2 : 5 ; 2 Cor. 
10 : 1. In direct violation of both its letter and 
spirit is the Roman Catholic custom of giving to 
the priests the title of "Father," and submitting 
to the exercise of a paternal authority in spiritual 
things. And observe that it is the apostles, whose 
successors the priests claim to be, who are for- 
bidden the title to the spiritual authority which 
the priests have assumed. The third prohibition, 
Neither be ye called leaders, forbids the formation 
of schools and sects, which look not directly to 



Ch. XXIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



249 



12 And f whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be 
abased: and he that shall humble himself, shall be 
exalted. 

13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
crites ! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against 
men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye 
them that are entering to go in. 

14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 



for ye devour widows' houses,^ and for a pretence make 
long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater 
damnation. 

15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites : 
for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte ! 
and when He is made, ye make him twofold more the 
child 1 " of hell than yourselves. 



f Prov. 15 : 33 ; Jas. 4 : 6. . . .g 2 Tim. 3 : 6 j Tit. 1 : 11. . . ,h John 8 : 44 ; Acts 13 : 10 ; Eph. 2 : 3. 



Christ as the only Leader, but to subsequent 
human teachers as leaders. It is interpreted by 
1 Cor. 1 : 12, 13. In direct violation of its letter 
and spirit is the organization of the disciples of 
Jesus Christ into schools of theology under 
human leadership, as followers of Luther, Calvin, 
Wesley, Campbell, &c. This does not differ in 
any respect from the division of the Pharisees 
into the schools of Hillel and Shammai, which 
our Lord here rebukes. 

11, 12. Verse 12 is an aphorism which occurs 
several times in Christ's teaching. (LukeWsiij 
is : 14). On its significance see note on Matt. 18 : 4. 
Here it is interpreted by the preceding verse ; he 
humbles himself who makes himself the servant 
of others (i John 3 : 16). The double declaration of 
the two verses is interpreted by history. Even 
in secular things we no longer regard as great 
those who have made the world serve them — as 
Alexander the Great, Gregory the Great, and our 
own " railroad kings ; " but those who have well 
served their generation — as Washington, Luther, 
and Stephenson. 

13-33. This portion of Christ's discourse de- 
nounces three classes of sins which in different 
forms exist to-day as in Christ's day : (1) A 
semblance of religious zeal accompanying real 
worldliness and selfishness (verses 13-15) ; (2) A 
subtle casuistry, busying itself in distinctions 
that are conventional, false, and immoral (verses 
36-22) ; (3) A scrupulous regard for external rites 
and ceremonies, accompanied with a supreme 
indifference to the heart and life (veraes 23-33). 

13. Because ye shut the kingdom of 
heaven in the face of men ; not merely 
against them, but in their faces as they are about 
to enter in, by taking away the key of knowledge 
(Luke 11 : 52). This the Pharisees did (1) by denying 
the Scripture, which is a key to the kingdom of 
heaven, to the common people, as the priests of 
the middle ages did subsequently (for to read 
the Scripture without note or comment was 
regarded as dangerous for the unlearned in the 
time of Christ as in the time of Luther) ; (2) 
by perverting it and substituting traditions for 
it, thus shutting out the people from that knowl- 
edge of Christ which the Scripture affords (Mark 
7 : 9-13 ; John 5 : 39) ; (3) by their evil and mislead- 
ing example (Matt. 23 : 3). This the Roman Cath- 
olic Church did in almost precisely the same 



manner. This is still done whenever, in the 
pulpit or the Sabbath-school, the subtleties and 
technicalities of a metaphysical theology are 
substituted for the simple exposition and appli- 
cation of the Gospel, or the teachings of Scripture 
are made of none effect by the lives of professing 
Christians. Compare Lev. 19 : 14 ; Isaiah 57 : 14. 

14. This verse is omitted from the best manu- 
scripts ; Tisehendorf, Treggelle.3, Lachmann and 
Alford all omit it. It has probably been inserted 
here from Mark 12 : 40 and Luke 20 : 47, where it 
is unquestionably genuine. The Pharisees were 
scrupulous as to hours of prayer, as were subse- 
quently the Christians in the early Church, (see 
note on Matt. 6 : 5-15, p. 6i.) It was a rabbinical proverb, 
Long prayers make a long life. An instance 
which illustrates this verse is given by Josephus 
in Antiq. 18 : 3, 5 : "These men persuaded Fulvia, 
a woman of great dignity, and one that had 
embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and 
gold to the Temple at Jerusalem; and when 
they had gotten them they employed them for 
their own uses, and spent the money themselves. " 
A similar power has been exercised from a very 
early period by the Roman Catholic priests, espe- 
cially over women ; and this to such an extent, 
and at so early a date, that Justinian passed 
ordinances forbidding the clergy to inherit pos- 
sessions ; these were revived in England in the 
statutes of Mortmain, which forbid any bequests 
for charitable or ecclesiastical uses. It was by 
their assumed sanctity that the Pharisees, as the 
priests, obtained their influence over women. 
Christ's denunciation applies to all who make 
their religion a cloak for covetousness (l Thess. 

2:5). 

15. Go abont sea and land to make 
one proselyte. It is significant that the word 
here is in the original exactly that used respect- 
ing Christ in Matt. 4 : 23, Jesus went about all 
Galilee ; but the object of our Lord's going 
about was to heal the sick and proclaim the 
glad tidings of the Gospel, the object of the 
Pharisees going about was to increase the number 
of their adherents. The difference between re- 
ligious and proselyting zeal is just this : one is 
for God and humanity, the other is for one's 
self, one's school, or one's sect. In Smith's Bible 
Dictionary, art. Proselytes, is given an account of 
the methods employed by the Pharisees in pros- 



250 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXIII. 



16 Woe unto yoa, ye blind 1 guides, which say, Who- 
soever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing ; but 
whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is 
a debtor. 

17 Ye fools,' and blind ! for whether is greater, the 
gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold ? 

18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is 
nothing ; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is 
upon it, he is guilty. 

19 Ye fools, and blind ! for whether is greater, the 
gift, or the altar that sanctifieth k the gift ? 



20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth 
by it, and by all things thereon. 

21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth 
by it, and by him 1 that dwelleth therein. 

22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by 
the throne™ of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 

23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
for" ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and 
have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judg- 
ment, mercy, and faith : these ought ye to have done, 
and not to leave the other undone. 



i ch. 15 : 14. . . .j Ps. 94 : 8. 



.kEx. 29 :37; 30: 29.... 1 2 Chron. 6 : 2 ; Pa, 26 : 8. . . .m ch. 5 : 3J ; Ps. 11 : 4 ; Isa. 66 ■ l....nLuke 11 :42.... 
o ch. 9 : 13 ; 1 Sum. 15 : 22 ; Jer. 22 : 15, 16 ; Hos. 6:6; Mien. 6 • 8. 



elyting, which recalls the more familiar methods 
of the Jesuits. " When they had power they 
used force ; when they had not power they 
resorted to fraud. They appeared as sooth- 
sayers, divines, exorcists, and addressed them- 
selves especially to the fears and superstitions of 
women." The proselytes are divided in the rab- 
binical books into two classes. The proselytes 
of the gate, a phrase derived from Exod. 20 : 10, 
were such heathen as dwell in the land of Israel, 
or even out of it, and who, without submitting to 
circumcision or any other part of the ceremonial 
law, feared and worshipped the true God. Of 
such we probably have examples in Luke, ch. 7 ; 
Acts, ch. 10 ; John 12 : 20 ; Acts 13 : 42 ; and it is 
generally believed that the phrases "religious 
proselytes" (Acts 13: 43), "devout Greeks" (Acts 
n:4), and "devout men" (Acts 2: 5) refer to this 
class. The proselytes of righteousness were 
circumcised and baptized, and took upon them 
the whole Jewish law and its observances. These 
were rare, and it is to these, doubtless, Christ 
here refers. Such a proselyte could but be made 
worse by his pseudo conversion ; he was "a disci- 
ple of hypocrisy merely, doubly the child of hell, 
condemned by the religion he had left, con- 
demned again by that which he had taken." — 
(Alford.) 

Twofold more the child of hell than 
yourselves. The Pharisees taught that no 
heathen could become a member of the Jewish 
nation except he were "born again" (see note on 
John 3 : 3). Jesus here asserts that the proselyte of 
the Pharisees is born from below, not from above. 
"Out of bad heathen they were made worse 
Jews." — (Erasmus.) And the reason was, not 
merely because those who were the most zealous 
proselytizers were most indifferent to moral and 
spiritual life, but, as Meyer, because "Experience 
proves that proselytes become worse and more 
extreme than their teachers." The warning ap- 
plies to all attempts to add numbers without 
spiritual life to the church, school, or sect. Of 
the effect of such endeavors Jesuit missions 
afford a mournful illustration. 

1G-22. The gold of the temple (verse 16). 
Possibly the ornaments of the temple, but more 
probably the sacred treasure, made up of gifts 



devoted to the temple by the worshippers. Thus 
the Pharisees made the gift to the temple, which 
was in reality a gift to the ecclesiastics (see note on 
verse 14) more sacred than the temple itself — He 
is guilty (verse is) should be rendered He is 
bound. The word is the same rendered He is 
debtor in verse 16. 

The precise nature of the Pharisaic precepts 
here condemned is largely a matter of surmise. 
It is clear, however, that by nice casuistical dis- 
tinctions the Pharisees made vows and oaths of 
none effect.. The modern application is to all cas- 
uistry the object or effect of which is to lessen 
the sense of obligation to the law of God. Of a 
like casuistry in the Jesuit fathers, Pascal in his , 
"Provincial Letters," gives numerous illustra- 
tions. These permitted miserliness, envy, false- 
hood, private revenge, duelling, and even assas- 
sination, on grounds as frivolous as those which 
Christ here exposes. The application to oaths of 
all forms, is also apparent. The appeal, however 
framed, is never to an inanimate thing, but to 
God, either directly, or through one of his attri- 
butes, or to some one as a witness in the place of 
God. To release, therefore, from an oath, because 
it is by the temple rather than by the gold, or by 
the altar rather than by the gift, is folly, not only 
because it reverses the true order of relative 
importance (verse n-19) but also because it ignores 
the fact that every oath, however phrased, is 
really an appeal to God (verses 21, 22). Compare 
Matt. 5 : 33-36 and notes. 

23. Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and 
cummin. Under the Mosaic law the tenth of 
all produce belonged to Jehovah and must be 
offered to him in kind, or redeemed with money 
(Lev. 27 : 30-33). The mint, our modern mint, the 
anise, probably the modern dill, and the cummin, 
were all insignificant plants used for sauces, or 
for perfume ; the dill or anise was also used as a 
medicine. These were, according to the letter of 
the law, liable to tithe, for it required " the seed 
of the land " as well as "the fruit of the tree." 
And our Lord does not condemn but impliedly 
approves the Pharisees' scrupulousness in paying 
the tithe of these herbs. What he condemns is 
the conscience that pretends to be scrupulous in 
matters of insignificant detail, and is indifferent 



Ch. XXIIL] 



MATTHEW. 



251 



24 Ye blind guides ! which strain at a gnat, and 
swallow a camel. 

25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
forP ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the 
platter, but within they are full of extortion and 
excess. 

26 Thou blind Pharisee ! cleanse first that which is 
within the cup and platter, that the outside of them 
may be clean also. 



27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
for ye are like untoi whited sepulchres, which indeed 
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead 
men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 

28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto 
men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 

29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! 
because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and gar- 
nish the sepulchres of the righteous, 



p Mark 7 : 4, etc. . . .q Luke 11 • 44 ; Acts 23 : 3. 



in matters of real importance. The modern ap- 
plication is to the spirit which is scrupulous in 
ritualistic observance and indifferent to the 
weightier matters of the law as interpreted 
below. — And have neglected, not merely 
omitted but dismissed from mind ; the weight- 
ier matters of the law, not the more bur- 
densome but the more important requirements : 
judgment, mercy, and faith. By judgment 
is meant, not justice, i. e. "giving to all their 
just dues " (Barnes), for the original word (xyloic) 
never bears this significance in the N. T. ; but 
spiritual discrimination. Our English version 
exactly represents the spirit of the original. 
The Pharisees by their casuistry showed an utter 
lack of capacity to judge of moral and spiritual 
things. Compare Luke 13 : 57 ; John 7 : 24. 
Mercy is the exercise and manifestation of sym- 
pathy and goodwill to all mankind, especially the 
suffering and the sinful, precisely the opposite of 
the proud and uncharitable disposition of Phar- 
isaism. See note on Matt. 5 : 7, and for illustra- 
tions of their lack of mercy see Luke 7 : 39 ; 
John 8 : 3-5. Faith is not equivalent here to 
fidelity, as some of the commentators interpret 
it. So to render it is to miss entirely the spiritual 
meaning of Christ's words. Our English version 
renders the original correctly. The whole pas- 
sage is interpreted by Micah 6 : 8, and Hosea 
12 : 6. Clear spiritual discernment, love to one's 
neighbor, humble trust in God — these are the 
important matters of the law. Compare 1 Tim. 
1: 5. — These ought ye to have done. 
Observe that Christ does not condemn scrupu- 
lousness in small matters, but demands that 
which is higher. The way to emancipate the 
conscience from bondage is not to denounce 
unnecessary scruples, but to fill the soul with a 
larger and higher idea of the religious life. 

24. Blind guides which strain out a 
gnat. The word at before strain was originally 
a printing error for out, which first appeared in 
King James' version in 1611, and has been faith- 
fully copied ever since. To strain at a gnat 
represents the stomach rising as it were against 
the little insect, but kept down by a strain or 
vigorous effort. To strain out a gnat is to pass 
the water or wine through a strainer before 
drinking, to purify it of insects. This is a com- 
mon practice in the East, and it was done by 



the Pharisees to avoid partaking anything cere- 
monially unclean (Lev. n : 23, 41, 42). The Hindoos 
have a similar proverb : Swallowing an elephant 
and being choked with a flea. The camel was 
also ceremonially unclean, because it did not 
divide the hoof (Lev. 11:4). "It is not the scru- 
pling of a little sin that Christ here reproves ; 
if it be a sin though but a gnat, it must be 
strained out ; but the doing of that, and then 
swallowing a camel. In the lesser matters of 
the law to be superstitious, and to be profane in 
the greater, is the hypocrisy here condemned." 
— (Matthew Henry.) 

25, 20. Ye make clean the outside of 
the cup and platter. There is perhaps a 
reference to the scrupulousness of the Pharisees 
in the washing of their dishes, etc., to avoid 
ceremonial pollution (see Mark 7 . 2-5, note). The 
meaning of the metaphor is clear ; Pharisaism is 
always solicitous for the external appearance, and 
indifferent to the inner spirit. Compare Matt. 
15 : 19, 20.— But within they are full of 
extortion, i. c. ravening, covetousness, greed, 
and excess, self-indulgence. Of the opposite 
spirit, Paul in 1 Cor. 9 : 27 affords an illustration. 
These two words suggest the two characteristic 
vices of Pharisaism, ancient and modern — a spirit 
of covetousness, and a spirit of self-indulgence, 
covered by a pretence of virtue and piety. 

26, Christ indicates the only true method 
of radical reformation, from within working 
outward, not from without working inward. 
Religion is the preparation for morality, not 
morality for religion. But only God can cleanse 
that which is within (Psalm 51 -. 7, 10 , Ezek 36 • 25, 26 : 

John 3 J 3, 5). 

27, 28. Whitewashed sepulchres. The 
Jews whitened the sepulchres annually with lime 
or chalk that all might know that the place was 
unclean and to be avoided. For this practice 
Ezek. 39 : 15 was cited. Dead bodies were un- 
clean according to the Mosaic law, and the touch 
of them defiled (Num. 52.66). In Luke 11 : 44 
an analogous but different figure is used. There 
the Pharisees are compared to concealed graves, 
with which the people come in contact and by 
which they are defiled, unconsciously — Are full 
of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Greek 
drofila.) Pretending to be scrupulous in his 
obedience to the law, the Pharisee is oblivious 



252 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXIII. 



30 And say, If we had been in the days of our 
fathers, we would not have been partakers with them 
in the blood of the prophets. 

31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that 
ye are the children of them which killed' the prophets. 

32 Fill" ye up then the measure of your fathers. 

33 Ye serpents, ye generation 1 of vipers ! how can ye 
escape the damnation of hell ? 

34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and 



wise men, and scribes : and some of them ye shall kill" 
and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge" in 
your synagogues, and persecute them from city" to 
city : 

35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood" 
shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel' 
unto the blood of Zacharias 2 son of Barachias, whom 
ye slew between the temple and the altar. 



r Acts 7 : 52: 1 Tness. 2 : 15 



...a Gen. 15 : 16; 1 Thess. 2 : 16 ten. 3 : 7... u Acts 7 : 69 v Acts 5 : 40; 2 Cor. 11 : 24, 25.. 

11 : 37. . . .x Lam. 4 : la; Rev. 18: 24 y Gen. 4:8 z2 Chron. 24: 20,21. 



of its character (Matt, s : 17, 20, 22, &c.) and of its 
object, the development of love (Rom. 13 ; 8; Gal. 
5 : 14 ■ 1 Tim. i : s). That soul is truly lawless which 
is without the spirit of love. "Such are men 
now also, decking themselves indeed outwardly, 
but full of iniquity within. * * * If one 
should tear open each man's conscience, many 
worms and much corruption would he find, and 
an ill-savor beyond utterance ; unreasonable and 
wicked lusts I mean, which are more unclean 
than worms." — (Chrysostom.) 

29-31. Because ye repair the tombs of 
the prophets, and decorate the monu- 
ments of the righteous. That is, this is your 
only mode of honoring them, in lieu of observing 
their words, imbibing their spirit, or imitating 
their lives. Thus Herod the Great, a monster of 
cruelty (see note on Matt. 2 ; l), rebuilt the sepulchre of 
David. — And say, if we were in the days 
of our fathers we would not be partak- 
ers with them. The language of self -confi- 
dence ; very like much modern language con- 
cerning the bigotry and intolerance of past ages. 
Whenever, instead of chiding ourselves for our 
present faults, we exult because we do not repeat 
the faults of the past, we subject ourselves to 
Christ's condemnation here. — Wherefore ye 
witness to yourselves that ye are the 
children of them that killed the proph- 
ets. Compare Luke 11 : 47, 48. Certainly, build- 
ing the tombs and decorating the monuments of 
the murdered did not indicate an approval of the 
murderers. I can only understand this passage 
thus : By calling the murderers your fathers you 
testify that you are their children, and by build- 
ing the tombs of the murdered prophets you 
testify to their guilt in murdering the prophets. 
Of this guilt, as shown in the parable of the 
wicked husbandmen (Matt. 21 : 37-39), and in the 
following verses of this discourse, they were 
partakers. The spirit of Pharisaism honors the 
martyrs of past ages and repeats its persecutions 
in the present. 

32. Fill ye up then the measure of 
your fathers. The language both of prophecy 
and of terrible irony and invective. Somewhat 
analogous in spirit is the language of Eccles. 

11 : 9. This Whole discourse (see verse 35 and note) is 

founded on the responsibility of nations as na- 
tions, and of the race as a race. If by act or ac- 



quiescence we ratify the sins of past eras we fill 
up its measure of guilt, and render ourselves 
accountable therefor. 

33. Compare the language of John the Baptist, 
Matt. 3 : 7 and note. Observe, however, the 
difference. There it is, Who hath warned you to 
flee? a door seems still to be left open ; here it 
is, Sow can ye escape ? the door is shut. 

34. Wherefore. The words, It is written, 
must be understood. In the analogous discourse 
reported in Luke the hiatus is supplied, There- 
fore, saith the wisdom of God, behold, &c. (Luke 
11:49). Christ does not say, Because of your 
blood-guiltiness I send prophets and wise men 
that you may kill them, but, Because of your 
blood-guiltiness one of your own prophets has 
described your character in these words. But 
we do not find in the O. T. any passage which 
answers exactly to Christ's language here. Al- 
ford, Olshausen and Stier refer to 2 Chron. 
24 : 18-22. "The words in our text are not 
indeed," says Alford, "a citation, but an amplifi- 
cation of verse 19 there — a paraphrase, giving the 
true sense of what the wisdom of God intended." 
There is in the apocryphal book, 2 Esdras, 
1 : 30-33, a passage which answers remarkably to 
the present. It is as follows: " I gathered you 
together as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
her wings : but now what shall I do unto you ? I 
will cast you out from my face. When ye offer 
unto me, I will turn my face from you : for your 
solemn feast days, your new moons, and your 
circumcisions have I forsaken. I have sent unto 
you my servants the prophets, whom ye have 
taken and slain, and torn their bodies in pieces, 
whose blood I will require of your hands, saith 
the Lord. Thus saith the Almighty Lord, your 
house is deserted, I will cast you out as the wind 
doth 6tubble." — Prophets and wise men 
and Scribes. Prophets are the inspired teach- 
ers of the Jews ; wise men, those who possess 
natural or acquired wisdom, e. g. Solomon ; Scribes, 
those who simply copy and teach the wisdom of 
others, "In these last the character is for the 
most part acquired ; iu wise men, innate ; in 
prophets, inspired." — (Bengel.) — Crucify. There 
is perhaps a reference to the crucifixion of 
Christ. Subsequently many of his followers were 
crucified ; but in general, crucifixion appears to 
have been a heathen not a Jewish mode of pun- 



Ch. XXIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



253 



36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come 
upon this generation. 

37 O a Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the 
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, 
how often would I have gathered" thy children togeth- 



er, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
wings, and ye would not ! 

38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 

39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me hence- 
forth, till ye shall say," 1 Blessed is he that cometh in the 
name of the Lord. 



a Luke 13 : 34 b Deut. 32 : 11, 12 ; Psalm 91 : 4 c Zee. 11:6 d ch. 21 : 9 ; Psalm 118 : 26. 



ishment. — Scourge in your synagogues. 

There is abundant evidence that the synagogue 
was a place both of trial and of punishment. 

(Matt. 10 : 17 ; Acts 22 : 19). 

35. So that upon you may come all the 
righteous blood which is being poured out 
upon the earth. The verb is in the present and 
represents this bloody stream as still flowing. It 
should come on them, because by slaying the 
Son they became participators in the crimes of 
those who had slain the heralds, because the 
guilt of murder lies not in the amount of blood 
shed, but in the spirit which sheds it, and be- 
because the nation is treated here, as in the par- 
able of the wicked husbandmen (Matt. 21 : 33-46 and 
notes), as a unit. The language is figurative, and 
represents the stream of innocent blood, flowing 
from the days of Abel, as coming upon and 
whelming the Jews in condemnation. Compare 
Matt. 27 : 25 ; Acts 5 : 28. — Unto the blood 
of Zacharias, son of Barachias. For 
different explanations of this verse see Lange on 
this passage. It is hardly doubtful that it refers 
to the Zacharias mentioned in 2 Chron. 24 : £0-22. 
He was slain "in the court of the house of the 
Lord" by the people, and dying, cried, "The 
Lord look upon it and require it." It is true 
that this Zacharias was the son of Jehoida, not 
of Barachias, who was the father of Zechariah 
the minor prophet. But the Sinaitic manuscript 
omits the words "son of Barachias," as does 
Tischendorf, and it is not improbable that the 
phrase was added by an early copyist, who mis- 
took this Zacharias for Zechariah. Luke does 
not have the addition " son of Barachias." It is 
true also that Zacharias was not the last martyr 
in the O. T. history ; but his martyrdom was one 
of the most notable. Concerning it the Jews had 
a saying that the blood was never washed away 
until the temple was burned at the captivity. In 
the arrangement of the Hebrew canon of the 
O. T. it was narrated last, though chronologically 
that of Urijah (jer. 26 ■ 23) was later. — Between 
the temple, i. e. the inner holy of holies, and 
the altar, i. e. of burnt-offering, which stood 
outside, in the priests' court. Two Greek words 
are used in the N. T. both of which are rendered 
in our version, Temple. The word used here 
(vuoc) generally signifies the innermost court or 
holy of holies. 

36. AH these things shall come upon 
this nation. On the true meaning of the 



word (ysifii) here rendered generation, see note 
on Matt. 24 : 34. The meaning of the verse is 
that all their crimes were treasured up and should 
return in punishment upon the Jewish nation. 
Compare Rom. 2 : 5. 

37. That killest the prophets. See 1 
Kings 18 : 4 ; Neh. 9 : 26 ; Jer. 2 : 30 ; 26 : 23— 
And stonest them which are sent unto 
thee. See Matt. 21 : 35 ; John 10 : 31, 39 ; Acts 
7 : 58 ; 21 : 31 ; 22 : 22, 23. The earthly ambas- 
sador is inviolable ; observe how God's ambassa- 
dors have been treated. — How often would I 
have gathered thee together. To protect 
from impending danger and destruction. This 
Christ sought to do, not only in his earthly life, 
and by his preaching in Jerusalem (comp. Acts 1 ; s), 
but by Divine messages and providences in the 
earlier history of the Jews. The verse is an 
indirect testimony to the divinity of Christ. For 
a similar figure used concerning God, see Psalms 
17 : 8 ; 57 : 1 ; 61 : 4 ; 91 : 4.— I would * * * 
ye would not. God's will for our salvation 
may be defeated by our will resisting it. Com- 
pare Prov. 1 : 24, 25 ; Ezek. 18 : 32. 

38. Behold your house. The temple : 
God's house no longer. — Desolate. Literally 
desert. The church is desolate when God departs ; 
so is the soul, the temple of God, when godless. 

39. Till ye shall say. Not except ye shall 
say, for the original will not bear that meaning, 
but until ye shall say. Alford sees in this a 
reference to such prophecies as Hosea 3 : 4, 5 ; 
Zech. 12 : 10 ; 14 : 8-11. It certainly looks toward 
a spiritual conversion of the Jews, a time when 
Jew as well as Gentile shall recognize whosoever 
cometh in the name of the Lord. Compare Rom. 
11 : 11, 15, 26 ; Phil. 2 : 10, 11. 



Ch. 24. CHRIST'S DISCOURSE ON THE LAST DAYS.— 
The preparation : tribulation (5-7) ; persecution 
(9) ; sectarian conflicts (10) ; false teaching (11) ; 
apostact (12) ; universal diffusion of the gos- 
pel (14). — the type : the destruction of jerusa- 
lem (15-22).— the great danger of the church ! 
false christs and false schemes of redemption 
(23-27).— the hour : not until judgment shall be 
coterminous with corruption (28). — the final com- 
ing : manifest, glorious, recognized by all (29-31) ; 
immediately after the trial period, as summer 
follows spring (32,33); certain (34,35); sdrpris- 
ing (36-39) ; separating companions (40, 41).— prac- 
tical lessons ; the duty of watchfulness (42-44), 



254 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXIV. 



AND PIDEIITT (45-47) ; THE DANGER. OP UNBELIEF AND 
LAP8E INTO SIN (48-51). 

Preliminary Note. — Mark (ch. 13) and Luke 
(21 : 5-38) both report this discourse. John gives 
no account of it, but his report of Christ's last 
words to his disciples (ch. 14-10), which were also 
prophetic, should be studied in connection with 
this chapter. The unfulfilled prophecies are the 
most difficult portions of Scripture, and this, 
the most definitely prophetic of our Lord's dis- 
courses, is confessedly one of the most difficult. 

The Problem. — After the death of Jesus Christ, 
the violence of the Jewish people and their 
intestine feuds, of which, even in the Gospels, 
we get glimpses, rapidly increased. Friends 
were alienated, families broken up, and a man's 
worst foes were those of his own household. 
Brigandage, imposture, and assassinations were 
rife. Even the Temple was not a place of safety. 
The high priest was slain while performing 
public worship. The priests quarrelled, openly 
and shamelessly, over the tithes. At length, 
possessed by a seeming frenzy, the Jews broke 
into open revolt against the Romans, seized on 
the most important posts in the country, and 
inflicted a severe though temporary defeat on 
the Roman arms. Vespasian and Titus were 
sent to chastise them back to submission. In 
the spring of a. d. 70, when the city was crowded 
with the multitudes who came up to the feast 
of the Passover, Titus surrounded Jerusalem 
with his legions. Within, the people were di- 
vided into factions, and fought with one another. 
The horrors of famine were added to those of 
riot, pillage, murder, and siege. According to 
the accounts of Josephus, which are not alto- 
gether trustworthy, but which constitute our 
chief source of information, awful prodigies 
added terror to the scene : a comet hung above 
the city ; a bright light shone in the Temple ; 
the immense Temple gates swung open of their 
own accord ; armed squadrons were seen in the 
heavens. The Jews themselves, given over to 
madness, profaned the Temple, setting up as 
high priest an ignorant rustic. At length, after 
five months of a siege which has no parallel in 
its commingled horrors of famine, internal feuds, 
and external assault, the city was taken by 
6torm, the Temple was set on fire and consumed, 
and the walls of the city were demolished. Of 
the Jews, the aged and infirm were killed ; the 
children under seventeen were sold as slaves; 
the rest were sentenced, some to the Egyptian 
mines, some to the provincial amphitheatres, 
some to grace the triumph of the conqueror. 
For fuller descriptions of this siege the reader is 
referred to the Bible Dictionaries, to Milman's 
History of the Jews, and to Josephus' Wars of 
the Jews. See also note on verse 21 below. The 



question to be determined respecting this twen- 
ty-fourth chapter of Matthew, and it is one on 
which the ablest scholars are not agreed, is this : 
How far are its prophecies to be regarded as ful- 
filled in and by this siege and destruction of Jeru- 
salem and the consequent dispersion of the Jews ? 

Hints toward its Solution. — The student may 
obtain some light from a consideration of the 
following facts : (a.) The discourse is elicited by 
the question of verse 3. The disciples, who had 
anticipated that Christ's kingdom was imme- 
diately to appear, awed by Christ's solemn de- 
nunciation of the Jewish nation (chap. 23 : 37-39), 
and his solemn assertion of the destruction of 
the Temple (verse 2), but still supposing that the 
destruction of Jerusalem, the coming of the 
Messiah, i. e. the public manifestation of Jesus 
as the Messiah, and the end of the world, were 
to be contemporaneous, desire to know when 
this will be accomplished. (6.) Though Christ's 
discourse is elicited by this question, he does not 
satisfy their curiosity. On the contrary, he as- 
serts in express terms that no man knows the 
day or the hour (verse se), makes this assertion of 
their ignorance the ground of the practical ex- 
hortation to " watch" (verse 42), and even asserts 
his own ignorance of it (Mark 13 : 32, note), (c. ) His 
object is practical, not theoretical ; he speaks 
not to inflame the imagination, nor to gratify cu- 
riosity, but to enforce the duty of patience, 
fidelity, and watchfulness. And whatever diffi- 
culty there may be in understanding the pro- 
phetic meaning of the discourse, there can be 
none in understanding and applying its practical 
and spiritual instructions, (d.) It thus resembles 
all unfulfilled prophecy. For the object of 
prophecy is not to give us foreknowledge, but 
1st, to inspire with hope and incite to courage, 
and 2d, to give such outlines of future events 
as, when fulfilled, shall become evidences of the 
truth of God's word. "I have told you, " says 
Christ, " before it come to pass, that, when it in 
come to pass, ye might believe." (John 14 : 29, comp. 

Luke 24 : 8 ; John 2 : 22 ; 16: 4; Isaiah 48:5; Jer. 44:28). 

(«.) History is itself in God's hands prophetic. 
The partial fulfilment becomes an historical 
prophecy of a further fulfilment ; in this case 
the judgment of God on Jerusalem and the 
Jewish nation, is itself a prophecy of God's final 
judgment on all who reject the Messiah of the 
world, and is indeed the beginning of his judg- 
ment of the nations, the end of which is not yet. 
To this chapter the words of Lord Bacon are 
peculiarly applicable : " Divine prophecies, being 
of the nature of their author, with whom a thou- 
sand years are as one day, are not punctually 
fulfilled at once, but have springing and germi- 
nant accomplishment throughout many ages." 
(/.) The interpretation of this discourse depends 
largely on the meaning given to certain verses in 



Ch. XXIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



255 



it, especially to the metaphor in verse 28, the 
confessedly poetic language of verses 29-31, and 
the word generation in verse 34. See notes below. 
Fully recognizing the difficulty of the subject, 
doubting whether Christ's prophecy here can 
ever be perfectly apprehended until its fulfil- 
ment becomes its interpreter, I suggest the fol- 
lowing analysis as a key to the discourse. 

Analysis. — The question (verse 3) : When will oc- 
cur the destruction of the Temple, thine own 
glorious manifestation as the Messiah, and the 
end of the world ? Christ's response. Do not 
imagine that the kingdom will immediately ap- 
pear. Be not deceived by the claims of false 
Messiahs. There must first be a period of trib- 
ulation, the travail out of which the kingdom 
shall be born (4-8), a period of persecution from 
without, and schism, apostacy, and false doctrine 
within (9-12), to be accompanied by the preaching 
of the Gospel throughout the habitable globe 
(13, 14). The length of this period no one knows 
save the Father ; not even the Son (Mark 13 : 32). 
When, therefore, you see the fulfilment of Dan- 
iel's prophecy (Dan. 9: 27; 12: 11), do not imagine 
that the end has come, and abide in Jerusalem. 
Flee ; for terrible will be the suffering of that 
time (15-22). Do not, then, allow false reports of 
the coming of the Messiah to mislead you. For 
his coming will be in such a manner that it can- 
not be questioned (23-27). Nor shall judgment 
stop at Jerusalem. Wherever there is corrup- 
tion, thither the executioners of God's judgment 
will hasten (28). Immediately after this period 
of travail and world-judgment, i. e., without any 
intervening sign or note of preparation, will 
come the Son of man to judge the world (29-31), 
even as summer follows spring (32, 33). But 
though Jerusalem is destroyed, the Jewish race 
shall abide, a living testimony to the truth of my 
words (34, 35). But the day and hour of their ful- 
filment no man knoweth (36). It will be sudden 
(37-41). Wherefore watch, be faithful, be always 
ready, looking for the appearance of your Lord 
(42-51), who will come to judge not only the world, 
but the church, condemning those who have 
lived in it without divine grace (ch. 25 : 1-13), with- 
out spiritual thrift and industry (ch. 25 : 14-30), and 
without practical benevolence and beneficence to 
their fellow-men (ch. 25 : 31-J6). 

Other Views. — I summarize the other principal 
interpretations of this passage. They are almost 
as numerous as the commentators, but they may 
be classified conveniently as follows : 

1. The rationalistic: that Christ himself sup- 
posed that the judgment would follow imme- 
diately upon the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
so taught. This view is not only inconsistent 
with belief in the divine or even the inspired 
character of Christ, it is also inconsistent 
with and refuted by the very terms of the dis- 



course. Analogous to this is the view of so 
Evangelical an interpreter as Olshausen, that 
"Jesus did intend to represent his coming as 
contemporaneous with the destruction of Jeru- 
salem and the overthrow of the Jewish polity," 
because "it should be considered every moment 
possible, and that believers should deem it every 
moment probable." In other words, that Christ 
taught what he knew to be error for the sake of 
a moral effect, for this seems to me to be the 
practical result of this interpretation. 

2. The semi-rationalistic : that the Evangelists 
misapprehended the tenor of Christ's discourse, 
interpreted it according to their own precon- 
ceived ideas, and so represented Christ as teach- 
ing that the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
final judgment were to be contemporaneous. 
So Neander interprets it : " It is easy to explain, 
how points of time which he kept apart, although 
he presented them as counterparts of each other, 
without assigning any express duration to either, 
were blended together, in the apprehension of 
his hearers, or in their subsequent repetitions 
of his language." It is true that this discourse 
was perhaps heard only by Peter, James, John, 
and Andrew (Mark 13 : 3), in which ease our reports 
are not from ear-witnesses, and there may be 
omissions. But it is impossible to suppose that 
they are such as materially to alter the sense, 
and yet believe that Christ's promise of inspi- 
ration to his disciples (John 14 : 26 ; 16 : 13) has been 
fulfilled. 

3. The historical: that Christ's discourse re- 
lates wholly to the destruction of Jerusalem ; 
that the language of verses 29-31 is poetic and 
figurative, and amounts only to this, that " there 
would be nothing wanting to indicate the great- 
ness of the events that were at hand, that the 
violent commotions and terrible calamities which 
were coming would be accompanied by extraor- 
dinary signs and portents that attend all great 
occurrences." — (Furness.) This view is not only 
sustained by such writers as Professor Norton 
and J. H. Morison (Unitarian), but also by such 
Evangelical divines as Mr. Barnes and Drs. Ja- 
cobus, Owen, Brown, and Adam Clarke. It is 
the view of Lightfoot and of some other of the 
older divines. In the notes which follow, espe- 
cially on ver. 29-31, I state the grounds on which 
this opinion is based, and some of the reasons 
which appear to me to be conclusive against it. 
A still more serious objection is this : The object 
of this whole discourse is the closing exhortation 
to fidelity and watchfulness (verses 42-51), which 
Christ expressly declares is for all his disciples, 
not merely for the twelve (Mark 13 : 37); and it is 
not the past destruction of Jerusalem, but the 
future destruction of the world and coming of 
Christ, possible at any day or hour, which alone 
affords a ground for this exhortation. 



256 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXIV. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

AND 6 Jesus went out, and departed from the tem- 
ple : and his disciples came to him for to shew 
him the buildings of the temple. 

.2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these 
things? Verily I say unto you, There' shall not be 



left here one stone upon another, that shall not be 
thrown down. 

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disci- 
ples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when 
shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign of 
thy coming, and of the end of the world ? e 

4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take h 
heed that no man deceive you. 



e Mark 13:1; Luke 21 : 5 f 1 Kings 9:7: Jer. 26 : 18 ; Luke 19 : 44 g 1 ThesB. 5 : 1, etc h Col. 2 : 8 ; 2 Thess. 2 : 3. 



4. Other interpretations : these are numerous, 
such as (1) that the whole discourse relates ex- 
clusively to the. end of the world, and that the 
destruction of Jerusalem is only incidentally and 
indirectly alluded to, a more complete destruc- 
tion being yet to come, perhaps by an earth- 
quake ; (2) that the discourse may be divided 
into three parts which answer respectively three 
questions put by the disciples, e. g.,' verses 1-14 
relating to the second coming of Christ, 15-28 to 
the destruction of Jerusalem, 29-51 to the end 
of the world ; (3) that Christ pictures the two 
events without regard, as it were, to perspective, 
the first, the destruction of Jerusalem, occupying 
the foreground, the last, the end of the world, the 
background, with no intimation of the eras that 
intervene ; (4) that he separates them, but that 
his declaration "Immediately after the tribula- 
tion of those days " (verse 29), is to be read in the 
light of the declaration that with God a thousand 
years are as one day, the intervening period 
being in his sight a small matter. It would 
make these notes too cumberous and perplexing 
to explain and refute these views in detail. The 
grounds of the historical interpretation are to 
some extent indicated in the notes. None of the 
other views appear to me at all tenable, except 
the one here adopted. This substantially agrees 
with the interpretation of Lange, Pressense, 
Howard Crosby, Alford, Calvin, James Morison, 
and Chrysostom, though no two of these agree 
in all details. 

1. His disciples came to him. As he 
was going out of the Temple (Mark i.s ; i). — The 
buildings of the Temple. Few buildings in an- 
cient or modern times have equalled in magnifi- 
cence Herod's Temple. With its outbuildings it 
covered an area of over nineteen acres, was built 
of white marble, was forty-six years in building 
(join 2 : 20), and employed in its construction ten 
thousand skilled workmen. The accompanying 
illustration is from H. W. Beecher's Life of Christ. 

The disciples were amazed and perplexed by 
Christ's public prediction of its destruction 

(Matt. 23 : 36-39 ; Luke 19 : 43, 44). And Well they might 

be, for the fortifications of Jerusalem and its 
natural advantages rendered it so apparently im- 
pregnable, that after its fall Titus, the captor, is 
reported by Josephus (Wars of Jews, 6 : 9, 1) to 
have said, "It was no other than God who 
ejected the Jews out of these fortifications. 



For what could the hands of men, or any ma- 
chines do, toward overthrowing these towers?" 

2. There shall not be left here one 
stone upon another. This prophecy has been 
so literally fulfilled, the walls being demolished by 
order of Titus, that Josephus says, " There was 
left nothing to make those who had come hither 
believe it had ever been inhabited." Of the 
Temple proper not a vestige remains. It was built, 
however, upon an immense platform, partly com- 
posed of natural rock, partly of immense mason- 
ry. This platform is still standing, and some look 
for its future demolition by an earthquake. 

3. Mount of Olives. This was oyer against 
Jerusalem, and directly opposite the Temple, 
which was therefore in full view. See map of 
Jerusalem, chap. 26, page 277. — The disciples 
came unto him. Mark (13:3) specifies their 
names, Peter, James, John, and Andrew ; and the 
language implies, but does not necessarily prove, 
that these were the only ones to whom this dis- 
course was delivered. — Tell us when shall 
these things be, i. e., the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem. — And what shall be the sign of thy 
coming. Not of his second coming, for though 
Christ had foretold his crucifixion, the disciples 

did not Understand his Saying (Mark 9 : 32 ; Luke 9 : 45), 

but the sign of hispublic manifestation as the Mes- 
siah. This they were momentarily expecting (Luke 
19 : ii; Acts i; 6). — And of the end of the world. 
Not merely of the Jewish dispensation, though 
the Greek is perhaps capable of being so ren- 
dered. Christ had in public discourse alluded 
to the end of the world in connection with his 
own appearance as the Messiah (Matt 13 : 39, 40, 49). 
The disciples, supposing that the destruction of 
Jerusalem, the overthrow of Judaism, the mani- 
festation of Jesus as the Messiah-King, and the 
end of the world, would be contemporaneous, 
asked when they would occur, and what would 
be the sign of their approach. One principal ob- 
ject of Christ's discourse is to correct their mis- 
apprehension. Calvin interprets well their prob- 
able state of mind: "Having been convinced 
that, as soon as the reign of Christ should com- 
mence, they would be in every respect happy, 
they leave warfare out of the account, and fly 
all at once to a triumph." He also emphasizes 
the practical lesson : " No man wishes to sow 
the seed, but all wish to reap the harvest before 
the season arrives." 



o- <i 




258 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXIV. 



5 For many shall come in my ' name, saying, I am 
Christ ; and shall deceive many. 

6 And ye shall hear of wars,' and rumours of wars ; 
see that ye be not troubled : for all these things must 
come to pass, but the end is not yet. 



7 For k nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom : and there shall be famines, and pes- 
tilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 



i Jer. 14 : 14 j Dan. li k Hag. 2 : 21, 22. 



4, 5. Take heed. This is the text of this 
discourse, and to it Christ constantly recurs. 
Compare verses 13, 23-25, 42-44. " We ought 
not to inquire into future and final events, 
through curiosity, but from a desire to fortify 
ourselves."— (Bengel.) I add that curiosity halts 
ever unsatisfied at this chapter ; but the spiritual 
desire for practical warning and admonition is 
abundantly satisfied. — That no man deceive 
you. The Jews, from such prophecies as 
Isaiah 54 : 13 ; Jer. 31 : 34 ; Mai. 4 : 2, expected 
that after .the Messiah came they would enjoy 
immunity from false doctrine. Jesus here warns 
his disciples to be still on their guard against it. 
— For many shall come in my name. 
Literally upon my name, i. e., as Wordsworth in- 
terprets it, " standing upon it and usurping it." 
That by In my name Christ does mean, As my 
disciples, is evident from the following clause of 
the sentence. — Saying, I am the Messiah, 
i. e., taking the title and claiming the authority 
of the Messiah. Buck, in his Theological Dic- 
tionary, gives a list of twenty-nine false Christs, 
though he includes such persons as Mahomet in 
his list. The last of these was as late as the 
seventeenth century. It is evident that this 
prophecy was not completely fulfilled prior to 
the destruction of Jerusalem. The warning is 
equally applicable to our own day. What was 
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, with 
his impious claim to be prophet, priest, and 
king, but a false Messiah ? 

6, 7. And ye shall hear of wars and 
rumors of wars. A seeming anti-climax, but 
a real climax. The rumors of an expected in- 
vasion are often more dreadful than the invasion 
itself. Those who can do so, should read Dr. 
Schaff's graphic note descriptive of his personal 
experience in Gettysburg during the civil war 
(Lange on Matt. 24 : 6). — Be not troubled. That is, 
be not apprehensive that the end of the world is 
yet. Compare 2 Thess. 2 : 2.— -The end is not 
yet. Luke's language is yet more explicit, 
These things must come to pass ; but the end is not 
immediately (Luke 21 : 9, note). The end here is not 
equivalent to, The end of the Jewish dispensa- 
tion. When the words stand, as here, without 
qualification or interpretation, they generally 
mean in the N. T. " The end of the world." Comp. 
1 Cor. 15 : 24 ; 1 Pet. 4 : 7. 

For nation shall rise against nation, 
etc. Luke's description (21:10,11) is yet more 
detailed and specific. In the period intervening 



this prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem, 
there were serious disturbances, (1) at Alexan- 
dria, a. d. 38, in which the Jews as a nation 
were the especial objects of persecution ; (2) at 
Seleucia, about the same time, in which more 
than fifty thousand Jews were killed ; (3) at 
Jamnia, a city on the coast of Judaea, near Joppa. 
Many other such national tumults are recorded 
by Josephus. See especially Wars of the Jews- 

2 : 17 ; 18 : 1-8.- — Families and pestilences. 
A great famine, prophesied in Acts (11 : 28) oc- 
curred a. d. 49, and another in the reign of 
Claudius, and mentioned by Josephus (Antiq. 

3 : 15, 3). A pestilence, a. d. C5, in a single au- 
tumn carried off 30,000 persons at Rome. — 
Earthquakes. Between this prophecy and the 
destruction of Jerusalem there were (1) a great 
earthquake at Crete, a. d. 46 or 47-: (2) one at 
Rome, A. d. 51 ; (3) one at Apamia in Phrygia, 
a. d. 53 ; (4) one at Laodicea in Phrygia, a. d. 60 ;. 
(5) one in Campania ; (6) one in Jerusalem, A. D. 
67, described in Josephus ( Wars of the Jews 4 : 
4, 5). I take this list from Alford's Commentary. 
It is, however,- evident that the prophesies of 
these verses (5-8) are not peculiarly applicable tO' 
the period immediately preceding the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem. The prophecy of wars and 
rumors of wars applies with still greater force to 
the campaigns of Charlemagne, the wars between 
the Popes and the German emperors, the con- 
flicts between Napoleon I. and the allied armies, 
the more recent wars between France, Italy, 
Austria, and Germany, the various civil wars 
which have devastated England, particularly the 
wars of the Roses and the Revolution under 
Cromwell, and in our own country the American 
Revolution and the Civil War ; to many of these- 
is equally applicable the declaration that " na- 
tion shall rise against nation." Of famines, pes- 
tilences, and earthquakes there have been more 
remarkable instances since than before the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, and instances in which 
the Christian church has suffered far more se- 
verely. I understand Christ's language here to 
be an admonition to expect a long period of con- 
flict and trial before the end will appear, a 
prophecy which history has both interpreted and 
fulfilled. 

8. All these are the beginning of tra- 
vail (o3(57i). Not merely of sorrows, but of that 
labor pain of the world, out of which the kingdom 
of God is to be born. The figure is not infre- 
quent in the N. T. (see Rom. 8 : 22 ; 1 Thess. S : 3) ; and 



Ch. XXIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



259 



9 Then 1 shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, 
and shall kill m you : and ye shall be hated of all na- 
tions for my name's sake. 

10 And then shall many be" offended, and shall be- 
tray one another, and shall hate one another. 



it And many false prophets shall rise, and shall 
deceive many. 

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of 
many shall wax i cold. 



1 Luke 21 : 12 m John 16 : 2 ; Acts 7 : 59 n ch. 13 : 21. . 



1 Pet. 2 : 1 ; 1 John 4:3 pi Tim. 4:1 q Rev. 3 : 15, 16. 



it is one full of the brightness of hope. The 
world's anguish is itself a prophecy of the fu- 
ture birth of the kingdom of righteousness. 

9-13. Then. " During this period, not after, 
these things have happened." — (Afford.) — Shall 
they deliver you up. The language is im- 
personal ; it is equivalent to, You shall be deliv- 
ered up. — And ye shall be hated of all 
nations for my name's sake. Compare 
with this warning the blessing which accompa- 
nies it (Matt. 5 : n, 12). Both warning and promise 
are applicable to all Christ's disciples to the end 
of time. Compare John 15 : 18-21 ; 16 : 1-4.— 
Then, i. e., during this period of persecution, 
and because of it. — Many, within the Church 
of Christ, shall be offended, i. c, stumbled, 
entrapped, caused to fall into sin. See Matt. 

5 : 29 ; 16 : 24 and notes. — And many false 
prophets shall arise, i. e., false religious 
teachers, pretending to have a divine mission 
and to be entrusted with a divine message. 
Compare Matt. 7 : 15-20 and notes. — And be- 
cause iniquity shall abound, in the world 
without, the love, both toward God and man, 
of many, within the church, shall wax cold. 
"It is the nature of love to burn." — (Bengel.) 
The danger to the church in a time of the general 
prevalence of iniquity is coldness of love and 
worldliness of spirit ; a danger which peculiarly 
threatens in the present era. 

These verses indicate four dangers which will 
assail the church : persecution from without 
(verse 9) ; apostasy, schism, and controversy within 
(verse 10) ; false doctrine (verse 11) ; and worldliness 
and consequent backsliding (verse 12). Each of 
these dangers came in a small measure upon the 
Apostolic church before the destruction of Jeru- 
salem. The disciples were subjected to persecu- 
tion, and some of its leaders were killed (Acts 7 : 59, 
60; 8 :3,4; i2: 2, etc.). They were haled by the Gentiles 

as Well as by the JeWS (Acts 16 : 19-22 ; 19 : 28 ; 28 : 22 ; 1 Pet. 

2 : 12 ; 3 : 16). Some were offended, and fell away 
(2 Tim. 4 : 10). There were schisms and controversies 
within the church (1 cor. 1 : 11-13), and false teachers 
(1 Tim. 1 : 6, 7 ; 2 Tim. 3 : 6-8), and coldness and worldli- 

neSS (l Tim. 6 : 9, 10, 17-19 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 10 ; James 2 : 2-6). In fur- 
ther illustration of the fulfilment of these prophe- 
cies the student may profitably consult the fol- 
lowing passages : Acts 20 : 30 ; Rom. 16 : 17, 18 ; 
2 Cor. 11 : 13 ; Gal. 1:7-9; Col. 2 : 17-end ; 1 Tim. 

6 : 3-5, 20, 21 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 18 ; 2 Pet. 2 ; 1 John 2 : 18, 
22, 23, 26 ; 4 : 1, 3 ; 2 John 7. But these were 
only the beginning of travail in the church. 



And in her history, subsequent to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, the reader must look for a 
larger fulfilment. The persecutions of the 
Christian church constantly increased in violence 
up to the days of Constantine. By the edicts of 
Diocletian, all Bibles were ordered to be de- 
stroyed, all ecclesiastics to be thrust into prison, 
all Christians to be compelled by torture to 
sacrifice to the gods, and all the contumacious 
to be put to death. Mr. Lecky, who is certainly 
not inclined to exaggerate these Roman persecu- 
tions, thus describes some of the afflictions to 
which the early Christians were subjected : " We 
read of Christians bound in chairs of red-hot 
iron, while the stench of their half consumed 
flesh rose in a suffocating cloud to heaven ; of 
others who were torn to the very bone by shells 
or hooks of iron ; of holy virgins given over to 
the lust of the gladiator or to the mercies of the 
pander ; of two hundred and twenty-seven con- 
verts sent on one occasion to the mines, each 
with the sinews of one leg severed by a red-hot 
iron, and with an eye scooped from its socket ; 
of fires so slow that the victims writhed for 
hours in their agonies ; of mingled salt and vin- 
egar poured over the flesh that was bleeding 
from the rack ; of tortures prolonged and varied 
through entire days." — {History of European 
Morals, Vol. I : 497.) That the disciples were 
hated is abundantly illustrated by Gibbon. They 
were charged with licentiousness, incest, and 
human sacrifice (Gibbon's Rome, II : 11). Tacitus 
calls the Christians " a race of men hated for 
their crimes." Many in the church were offended, 
so many that the church was subsequently se- 
riously divided on the question whether such 
apostates and recusants might be received back 
again into the fold. The internal conflicts, of 
party against party in the church, is abundantly 
illustrated in its subsequent history, in the ter- 
rible persecutions inflicted by the Roman Cath- 
olic Church upon Protestants, surpassing in 
severity and extent any ever inflicted by the 
heathen, in the controversies in the Roman Cath- 
olic Church itself between the rival popes and 
between the Jansenists and Jesuits in France, 
and in the Protestant Church even down to our 
own day, between different sects. From false 
teachers and from coldness and worldliness, the 
church has always suffered, certainly to a greater 
degree in these latter days than in the Apostolic 
era. Observe, too, that, though every age has, 
in some degree, all of these tribulations, yet, 



260 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXIV. 



13 But r he that shall endure unto the end, the same 
shall be saved. 

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be ■ preached 
in all the world for a witness unto all nations : and then 
shall the end come. 



15 When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of 
desolation, spoken 1 of by Daniel the prophet, stand in 
the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand :) 

16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the 
mountains: 



r Rev. 2 : 10 s ch. 28 : 19 ; Rom. 10 : 18 ; Rev. 14 : 6 t Dan. 9 : 27 ; 12 : 11. 



historically, each age is characterized by its own pe- 
culiar form of tribulation, and that they follow each 
other in consecutive order, as indicated in Christ's 
language here. First comes the period of peril 
from without, that of Imperial persecution ; 
next that of schism and conflict within, that of 
the Roman Catholic persecutions and of the 
ecclesiastical conflicts between Eoman Catholic, 
Greek, and Protestant communions, and the sec- 
tarian strife between the Protestant churches. 
This has well-nigh passed ; and we are now in 
the age of "false prophets," an age which, with 
liberty of speech, brings within the church itself 
much false doctrine ; an age which produces a 
bishop (Colenso) who denies the inspiration of the 
Scripture, and a professor of theology (Strauss) 
who denies the existence of a personal God, the 
immortality of the soul, and the reality of religion 
as a vital experience. Is it a mistake to con- 
clude that the dangers to the church in the fu- 
ture lie, not in any recurrence of religious perse- 
cutions, or of denominational conflicts, but in 
false prophets, and still more in an era, yet to be 
developed, of abounding iniquity without, and 
consequent coldness and worldliness within the 
church ? 

13, 14. He that shall endure to the 
end. Not he that endures to the end of the 
Jewish economy shall be saved in the destruction 
of Jerusalem, nor he that endures to the end of 
the world shall be saved in the day of judgment, 
but he that endures to the end of the period of 
trial, 'whatever that in his case may be, shall be 
saved by and through his endurance of the ap- 
pointed discipline (Ephes. 6 : 13 ; Rev. 2 : 7, 11, 17, etc. ; 

7 : h). Compare the more explicit language of 
Luke 21 : 19 and note. Mark (13 : 9-11) and Luke 
(21 : 12-15) report Christ's practical directions to 
the disciples how to endure the trial hour when 
it comes.— And this good news of the 
kingdom shall be heralded in the whole 
habitable globe. Not merely throughout 
Palestine. The Greek word here employed 
(oly.ovui-.'ij) never has that signification in the 
N. T. It may mean, either the then known 
world (Luke 2:1; Acts ii : 28 ; 24 : s), or the entire globe 
(Rev. 3 : io ; 12:9; 16 : u). I think here the latter 
meaning is included. — For a testimony unto 
all nations. A testimony to them of Christ's 
redemption ; a testimony against such as reject 
it. Compare note on Matt. 8:4. It is true that 
the Gospel was preached, in the greater part of 
the then known world, before the destruction of 



Jerusalem. But the prophecy here, as in the 
preceding verses, is, I think, more far-reaching. 
" The apostacy of the latter days, and the universal 
dispersion of missions, are the two great signs of 
the end drawing near." — (Alford.) Observe that 
Christ does not say that the Gospel will be re- 
ceived by or even among all nations, only that it 
will be proclaimed to them. The standard will 
be set up ; allegiance may not be paid to it. But 
this certainly indicates that an increased Chris- 
tian activity in the church and increased tri- 
umphs of the Gospel will be contemporaneous 
events with the coldness, conflicts, and apostacy 
foretold in the preceding verses. — And then 
shall come the end, i. c., the end of the pe- 
riod of trial and judgment, and so the end of 
the world. 

15. When ye therefore shall see the 
abomination of desolation, i. e., the abom- 
ination that makes desolate, spoken of by 
Daniel (Dan. 9:27; 12 : n), stand in a holy 
place, not in the Holy of holies, the words here 
used are never employed in the N. T. to signify 
the Holy of holies or inner Temple ; nor Is it, 
as in the English version, The holy place, but, as 
I have translated it above, A holy place. Mark 
gives as an equivalent expression, Standing where 
it ought not. — Whoso readeth, let him un- 
derstand. This is generally regarded as an ad- 
monition of the Evangelist, added to emphasize 
Christ's warning. If this surmise be correct, 
the Gospel of Matthew must have been written 
not long prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, 
for the object of this addition is to enforce 
Christ's caution to the disciples, to make good 
their escape from the doomed city. 

The connection of this verse appears to me to 
be this : Daniel had prophesied of an abomina- 
tion of desolation which should precede the 
"consummation," i. e., the final coming of the 
Messiah as king. The disciples, imbibing the 
erroneous ideas of their time, would suppose 
that the Messiah's coming would immediately 
follow this sign, and with mistaken faith might 
remain in Jerusalem, awaiting there an expected 
divine deliverance. Christ, so far from confirm- 
ing this error, carefully corrects it. Therefore, 
he says, i. e., because there is to be a long period of 
tribulation and judgment preceding the end of the 
vmrld, when ye see the sign spoken of by Daniel, 
do not imagine that the end is come, and so 
abide in the city : flee upon the mountains. 
And in the following verses, to verse 22, he en- 



Ch. XXIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



261 



17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down 
to take any thing out of his house : 

18 Neither let him which is in the field return back 
to take his clothes. 

19 And" woe unto them that are with child, and to 
them that give suck in those days ! 



20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, 
neither on the sabbath day : 

21 For ' then shall be great tribulation, such as was 
not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, 
nor ever shall be. 



: 29 v Dan. 12 : 1. 



forces this admonition by a vivid description of 
the peril. The admonition was not in vain. 
Not a single Christian is known to have perished 
in the siege of Jerusalem. What is the abomina- 
tion which makes desolate referred to here and in 
Daniel, it is not easy to determine. The com- 
mentators generally suppose it to refer to the 
standards of the Roman army, which contained 
heathen emblems, and the direction to be equiv- 
alent to that of Luke 31 : 20 : When ye shall see 
Jerusalem compassed with armies, knoiu that the 
desolation thereof is nigh. But the Roman eagles 
had been seen in and about Jerusalem for many 
years. Others refer the words to the internal 
desecration of the Temple by the Zealots. In 
either case there can be no doubt that Alford is 
correct in saying: "Whatever it was, it was a 
definite, well marked event, for the flight was to 
be immediate, on one day (not on the Sabbath), 
and universal, from all parts of Judea." When 
this sign appeared, whatever it was, the disciples 
were not to think the Messiah was at hand ; they 
were to flee. 

16-18. These verses contain directions for 
the flight of the Christians. — Into the moun- 
tains. Rather, upon the mountains, i. e., to a 
refuge beyond them. It is said by Eusebius 
that at the siege of Jerusalem the Christians fled 
to Pella, a city on the northernmost boundary of 
Perea. — On the housetop. The Jewish roof 
is flat, is a common resort, and is a natural point 
of observation in time of peril (isaiah 22 : 1). It is 
said that one may run from one part of Jerusa- 
lem to another, and even to the city gates, along 
these flat roofs of the houses. But I should re- 
gard this and the next verse not as a command 
to flee in any particular manner, but simply as a 
warning against delay. They that were on the 
housetop were not to return to take anything 
with them ; they were to go unencumbered. — 
His clothes. Literally his cloak (Ifiatiov). This 
was an outer garment not used in work, but the 
almost necessary accompaniment of every Jewish 
traveler. It was a shawl or blanket, made of 
wool and of a square or oblong square form, fast- 
ened round the neck or on the shoulder by a 
brooch, and usually worn as an outside mantle 
over the tunic or undergarment. It was thrown 
off or left at home during work (John 13 : 4) ; but 
was used at night as a wrapper, and would seem 
to the disciples almost indispensable in such a 
flight. But they were not to turn back even for 




THE CLOAK. 

so important an article. The exigency would be 
too urgent ; the peril too great. 

19, 20. Hindrances within their control they 
were not to permit, from hindrances beyond 
their control they were to seek deliverance by 
prayer ; a hint as to the use and the limitation 
of prayer. They were to pray that the flight 
might not be in the winter, that thus they might 
avoid the additional exposure and suffering ; nor 
on the Sabbath day, because they would thus meet 
with impediments from without, such as the shut- 
ting of the gates of cities, or from their own Sab- 
bath scruples, from which the Jewish Christians 
were not wholly freed, and which forbade travel- 
ing further than a Sabbath day's journey (about 
one mile), and also because to flee from Judea on 
the Jewish Sabbath might subject them to the 
enmity and persecution of the Jews, who would 
in consequence regard them as both traitors and 
heretics. 

21. For then shall he great tribulation. 
Luke describes it more in detail (Luke 21 : 24), and 
the ancient prophecies with still more terrible 
particularity (Deut. 28 : 49-57 ; Dan. 12:1). Josephus 
( Wars of the Jews, B. 6) gives an account of the hor- 
rors of this unparalleled siege. According to him 
there were slain 1,100,000 Jews ; 97,000 were taken 
captive, many of whom were subsequently tor- 
tured and slain ; the prisoners captured during the 
siege were crucified in such numbers that " room 
was wanted for the crosses, and crosses wanted 
for the bodies ;" the famine within devoured the 
people "by whole houses and families," and was 
so terrible that the prophecy of Deuteronomy was 
literally fulfilled ; one mother killed, roasted, 



263 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXIV. 



22 And except those days should be shortened, there 
should no flesh be saved: but" for the elect's sake 
those days shall be shortened. 

23 Then x if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is 
Christ, or there ; believe it not. 

24 For 1 there shall arise false Christs, and false 
prophets, and 2 shall shew great signs and wonders; 



insomuch that, if a it were possible, they shall deceive 
the very elect. 

25 Behold, I have told you before. 

26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he 
is in the desert : go not forth : Behold, he is in the 
secret chambers ■ believe it not. 

27 For as the lightning b cometh out of the east, and 



w Isa. 65 : 8, 9 x Deut. 13:1,3 y ver. 5:11 z 2 Thess. 2:9-11; Rev. 13 : 13 a John 10 : 28, 29 b Zee. 9 : 14 ; Luke 17 : 24, etc. 



and ate her own child ( Wars of the Jews, 6 : 3, 4). 
The language of Josephus in narrating the events 
singularly resembles the language of Christ in 
prophesying them: "No other city," says he, 
"ever suffered such miseries, nor did any age, 
from the beginning of the world, ever breed a 
generation more fruitful in wickedness than this 
was." And again : "If the miseries of all man- 
kind from the creation were compared with those 
which the Jews then suffered, they would appear 
inferior." See Preliminary Note. 

22. And except those days should be 
shortened there should be no flesh saved. 
Greswell, (and Alford quoting from him,) refers 
to several causes which combined to shorten the 
siege of Jerusalem : (1.) Herod Agrippa had be- 
gun to fortify the walls of Jerusalem against any 
attack, but was stopped by orders from Claudius 
(A. d. 42 or 43). (2.) The Jews being divided 
into factions among themselves, totally neglected 
any preparations to stand a siege. (3.) The mag- 
azines of corn and provisions were burnt just 
before the arrival of Titus. (4.) Titus arrived 
suddenly, and the Jews voluntarily abandoned 
parts of the fortifications. (5.) Titus himself 
confessed that he owed his victory to God. See 
note on verse 1. But while this is the primary 
meaning of the promise, viz., that the providen- 
tial shortening of the siege should give escape to 
some, there is also included the large signifi- 
cance which Lange attaches to the words, The 
destruction of Jerusalem is a beginning of God's 
judgment on the nations ; but he cuts short the 
judgment, and waits, that by his long-suffering 

he may Save (Isaiah 30 : 18 ; Rom. 2 : 4 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 9). The 

student should observe Luke's language here, 
which clearly implies an interval between the 
consummation of the destruction of Jerusalem 
and the end of the world : Jerusalem shall be 
trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of 

the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luke 21 : 24 and note). 

23-25. Then. During the times of trouble 
just described. — If any shall say to you, 
Lo, here is the Messiah, or there; be- 
lieve not. Unbelief, then, is sometimes a duty. 
—For there shall arise false Christs. See 
note on verse 5. — And false prophets. See 
note on verse 11 and on Matt. 7 : 15-20. — And 
shall shew great signs and wonders. 
Josephus tells us that the false Christs and 
prophets appeared as magicians, promising to 



work miracles. The language here is precisely 
the same used of the miracles wrought by Moses 

(Acta 7 : 30), by the ApOStleS (Acts 2 : 43 ; 4 : 30 ; 5 : 12 ; 6:8; 
Rom. 15 : 19 ; 2 Cor. 12 : 12 ; Hebrews 2 : 4), and by Christ 

(John 4 : 48 ; Acts 2 : 22). The mere presence of prodi- 
gies, then, is of itself no evidence of revelation or 
inspiration; they must accompany truth, which, 
by its inherent character and blessed fruit, gives 
divine sanction to the miracle. And the lack of 
this truth-teaching distinguishes the pseudo mir- 
acles of the false prophets of Judaism, of the 
priests in the middle ages, and of modern spirit- 
ualism, from those of the Bible. Compare Deut. 
13 : 1-3. — So that they shall deceive, if it 
were possible, the very elect. So -perfect 
will be the imposture. But it will not be pos- 
sible (John 6 : 39 ; 10 : 28 ; Rom. 8 : 38, 39 ; 3 Tim. 2 : 19 ; 1 John 
5 : 18). 

In these verses Christ recurs to the warning 
with which he began his discourse (verses 4, 5). The 
disciples are not to confound the destruction of 
Jerusalem with the end of the world ; reports of 
the coming of the Messiah will be current, but are 
not to be believed. Of such false Christs we 
have accounts in Josephus. " The nearer the 
Jews were to destruction, the more did these 
impostors multiply, and the more easy credit did 
they find with those who were willing to have 
their miseries softened by hope." — (Kenriclt.) 
See also Josephus' Wars of the Jews, 2 : 13, 4-7, 
and Acts 21 : 38. But while the primary appli- 
cation of the warning is to the destruction of 
Jerusalem, its application to later times is made 
clear by other passages of Scripture. See 2 Thess. 
2 : 8-12 ; 1 Tim. 4:1-3; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. 
13:14; 19:19-21. Rightly understood "they 
will preserve the church firm in her waiting for 
Christ, through even the awful troubles of the 
latter days, unmoved by enthusiasm or super- 
stition, but seeing and looking for Him who is 
invisible." — (Alford.) 

26. In the desert in the secret cham- 
bers. According to Josephus, impostors ful- 
filled both these predictions, some drawing the 
people off into the desert, others concealing 
themselves in secret hiding-places in the city. 

27. As the lightning * * * so shall 
also the coming of the Son of man be. 
This cannot refer to the preaching of the Gospel 
of Christ by the Apostles, as Calvin interprets it, 
for Christ distinctly declares elsewhere that the 



Ch. XXIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



263 



shineth even unto the west ; so shall also the coming 
of the Son of man be. 

28 For wheresoever' the carcase is, there will the 
eagles be gathered together. 

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days 
shall 11 the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not 
give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and 
the powers of the heavens c shall be shaken, 



30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man ' 
in heaven : and then shall all the tribes of the earth 
mourn, and they s shall see the Son of man coming in 
the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 

31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound h 
of a trumpet ; and they shall gather together his elect' 
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the 
other. 



c Job 39 : 30 d Isa. 13 : 



10 ; Ezek. 32 : 7 ; Amo« 5 : 
g ch. 16: 27; Mark 13: '26 



!0; Acts 2 : 20; Rev. 6 : 12 e 2 Pet. 3 : 10 f Dan. 7 : 13 ; Rev. 1 

Luke 22 : 69 hi Thess. 4 : 16 i Zee. 14: 5. 



kingdom of God shall come in the Gospel with- 
out observation (Luke 17 : 20, 21) ; nor to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, as some of the modern 
commentators interpret it, for the Son of man 
was not recognized in that event by the Jews, and 
the very point of this declaration is that Christ's 
coming shall be recognized universally. It can 
only refer to his final coming in judgment ; and 
the connection is this : Be not deceived by false 
Messiahs, for when I come it will be in such a 
form that no one can doubt or question, it will 
be sudden, public, manifest to all ; observe, not 
merely as the lightning, but as the lightning when 
it shines from the East even unto the West, 
i. e., when the whole heavens are aglow with its 
light. 

28. For. The best manuscripts omit this 
word. And the omission makes a material dif- 
ference in the connection, and therefore in the 
probable interpretation. — Wheresoever the 
carcass is, there will the eagles he gath- 
ered together. The vultures were reckoned 
by the ancients as belonging to the eagle family, 
and are probably referred to here. The true 
eagle feeds readily on carrion (see Goodrich's Nat. 
Hist., Vol. II, p. 38), but is a solitary bird, while 
the vultures congregate in great numbers. The 
history of the interpretation of this verse is a 
curiosity. The Fathers and, following them, 
Calvin and Wordsworth, understood it, Wherever 
Christ is, there will his saints and angels gather, an 
interpretation which is not consistent with the 
context, nor congruous with other passages of 
Scripture, and which is revolting to good taste. 
The modern commentators generally understand 
it, Where the Jewish nation is, there will the Soman 
armies, whose national standard was the eagle, 
be gathered. But this interpretation does not 
harmonize with the context. Dr. Crosby renders 
it, False Christs will gather where there is a false 
people. But the false Christs are themselves the 
product of the false people. In this, as in so 
many other passages, the Bible is its own best 
interpreter. The metaphor Is one employed in the 
O. T., where the eagle, or in more general terms, 
the bird of prey, represents foreign armies called 
by God to execute his judgment on a corrupt na- 
tion (Deut. 28 : 49 ; Lam. 4:19; Hosea 8:1; Habakkuk 1 : 8). 

Christ's language here, then, is equivalent to, 
Judgment will not be inflicted on Jerusalem 



alone ; that will not be the end ; wherever there 
is corruption, there will be inflicted the judg- 
ments of God. This truth is illustrated in the 
destruction of Jerusalem, but not less surely 
and strikingly in the overthrow of Greece and 
Borne, in the decay of Spain, in the desolations 
visited on France, and in our own civil war. 

29-31. Immediately, not merely suddenly, 
the Greek word (svSicag) is not capable of that 
translation. — After the tribulation of those 
days. That is, not immediately after the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, but immediately after 
the period of travail and judgment above de- 
scribed in verses 4-14, and again referred to in 
verses 23-28. The end of the world and mani- 
festation of the Messiah as king shall follow this 
period of tribulation at once, with no other sign 
and no intervening period, as the summer fol- 
lows the Spring (verses 32, 33). 

Shall the sun be darkened * * * The 

rest of the language of this and the two succeed- 
ing verses is undoubtedly poetic. We cannot 
conceive that a sign in the heavens should be 
seen or a trumpet be heard simultaneously on 
both sides of a round globe. Those who regard 
this twenty-fourth chapter as a prophecy simply 
of the destruction of Jerusalem, understand the 
language here as a poetic and figurative descrip- 
tion of the calamities to fall upon Judea. Ac- 
cording to their view these expressions are inter- 
preted as follows : The sun shall be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give her light is equivalent to, 
Those shall be dark days, and in support of this 
are cited, Isaiah 13 : 10 ; 24 : 23 ; 34 : 4 ; 50 : 3 ; 
60 : 19, 20 ; Ezek. 32 : 7 ; Joel 3 : 15, where sim- 
ilar language is employed in describing earthly 
judgments of God upon sinful cities, as Babylon, 
Tyre, etc. ; Then shall appear the sign of the Son 
of man in Jieaven is not, The sign shall appear in 
heaven, but a sign shall appear testifying that 
the Son of man is in heaven, this sign being the 
destruction of Jerusalem ; Then shall all the tribes 
of the earth mourn means that all the inhabitants 
of Palestine shall experience great sorrow at the' 
desolation of their land and the destruction of 
their Holy City ; And fie shall send his angels vMh 
the sound of a trumpet, is equivalent to, Then 
shall he send his messengers (the word here ren- 
dered angel is sometimes translated messenger, 
Mark 1:2; Luke 7 : 24 ; 9 : 52), with the trum- 



264 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXIV. 



32 Now learn ' a parable of the fig tree: When his 
branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know 
that summer z> nigh : 

33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, 
know that it is near, even k at the doors. 



34 Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not 
pass till all these things be fulfilled. 

35 Heaven ' and earth shall pass away, but my words 
shall not pass away. 



j Luke 21 : 29 k Jas. 5:9 1 Ps. 102 : 26 ; Isa. 51 : 6. 



pet of his Gospel to call together unto his church 
the true disciples of Christ, or, He shall send 
his guardian angels to preserve the elect from 
the calamities falling upon the Jews. The stu- 
dent may find this view in brief in Lightf oot, and 
more fully in J. H. Morison, Adam Clarke, and 
Owen, and something of it in Barnes, who ap- 
pears, however, not to be fully satisfied with it. 
To me it appears utterly untenable for the fol- 
lowing reasons : (a.) The Apostles, who were 
looking for a majestic manifestation of the Mes- 
siah as their king, could not have so understood 
Christ's language here, and it is ordinarily safe 
to assume that Christ meant his words to be 
taken in the sense in which his auditors would 
naturally have taken them. (6.) They did not so 
understand him ; for metaphors, unmistakably 
borrowed from Christ here, are used by the Apos- 
tles, especially Paul, in describing the last judg- 
ment (2 Thess. 1 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 52 ; 1 Thess. 4 : 15-17 : comp. 

John ii : 52). I am unable to see why the same 
principle of interpretation which converts Christ's 
sublime description of the last days into a poetic 
description of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
would not expunge from the N. T. all its proph- 
ecies of Christ's second coming and the final 
judgment, by looking for their fulfilment in 
other terrible national calamities, (c.) The com- 
mon reader would certainly not understand 
Christ's language here to be applicable to the 
destruction of Jerusalem, and the Bible was in- 
tended for ordinary readers. Interpretations 
which contradict the common understanding are to 
be received with great hesitation, (d.) Christ him- 
self employs almost the same language in other 
connections, where it cannot be doubted that he 
refers to his final coming to judge the world 

(Matt. 25 : 31 ; 26 : 64; Mark 14 : 62). («.) The inhabitants 

of Palestine did not in any sense see in the de- 
struction of Jerusalem the Son of man coming ; 
on the contrary, he is unrecognized by the great 
body of the Jews to the present day. (/.) Christ 
did not through his Apostles gather together the 
elect from the four winds of heaven ; on the 
contrary, they were scattered abroad to the four 
winds of heaven, in the persecutions which im- 
mediately preceded, and in those which accompa- 
nied the destruction of Jerusalem, and went ev- 
erywhere preaching the Gospel (sec Acts 8: 1,4 ; 11 ; 19). 
I then understand that Christ here refers to his 
second coming to judge the world, a coming that 
will be sudden, and that will be accompanied by 
such signs and portents that there can be no 



possible mistake concerning his appearing. I do 
not here consider the question whether there is 
to be a pre millennial coming of Christ prior to 
the last judgment. If so, the evidence must be 
found elsewhere in Scripture. There is nothing 
in this prophecy to indicate it. 

32, 33. As we judge from the presence of 
certain signs in nature, that spring is over and 
summer is nigh, so we are to judge when the 
advent of the Messiah is at hand, by no miracu- 
lous signs and portents, but by the development 
and progress of the world's travail and judg- 
ment, as described in the preceding verses. 
Compare Matt. 16 : 3. 

34. This nation shall not pass, till all 
these things he fulfilled. Of course, if the 
English version is correct here, and Christ de- 
clares that all this prophecy is to be fulfilled be- 
fore the then generation passed away, this verse 
would leave but one alternative ; we should be 
compelled to believe, either that the Lord him- 
self thought the destruction of the world would 
follow immediately on the destruction of Jeru- 
salem, and this in the face of his distinct refusal 
to indicate when the former event would occur 
(verse 36), and his emphatic assertion that he did 
not know (Mark 13 : 32), and his careful and repeated 
warnings against that error (verses 4, 5, 15, 23 and notes) ; 
or that he refers in this chapter only to the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, an interpretation which 
it appears to me does violence to the plain mean- 
ing of verses 29-81. But if we read this verse, 
as I have translated it above, then the marvellous 
if not miraculous preservation of the Jewish 
nation, though dispersed through all lands, and 
persecuted through all these ages, is a perpetual 
and living testimony to the truth of Christ's 
prophecy. On the question whether the original 
word rendered generation in this verse can be 
properly rendered nation I transcribe, modifying 
it so as to make its references intelligible to the 
English reader, the note of Dean Alford. "As 
this is one of the points on which the rationaliz- 
ing interpreters lay most stress, to show that the 
prophecy has failed, it may be well to show that 
the original (yenu) has in Hellenistic Greek the 
meaning of a race or family of people. For this 
purpose see Jer. 8 : 3 (Septuagint) ; compare 
Matt. 23 : 36 with verse 35, and observe that the 
then living generation did not slay Zacharias, so 
that the whole people are addressed. See also 
Matt. 12 : 45, where the sense absolutely requires 
that the meaning of nation should be attached 



Ch. XXIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



265 



36 But™ of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, 
not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 

37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the 
coming of the Son of man be. 

38 For as in the days that were before the flood, 
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving 
in marriage, until" the day that Noe entered into the ark, 



39 And knew not, until the flood came, and tools 
them all away ; so shall also the coming of the Son of 
man be. 

40 Then shall two be in the field ; the one shall be 
taken, and the other left. 

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill : the one 
shall be taken, and the other left. 



m Zee. 14 : 7 ; 1 Thess. 5:2 n Gen. 6 : 2. 



to the word. See also Matt. 17 : 17 ; Luke 17 : 25 ; 
16 : 8. In the latter passage, ' The children of 
this world are in their generation wiser than the 
children of light,' the word generation is predi- 
cated both of the children of this world and of 
the children of light, and evidently not used 
literally of an age of men. Compare also Acts 
2 : 40 ; Phil. 2 : 15. In all these passages genera- 
tion (ytvta) is equivalent to nation (yhog), or 
nearly so ; having, it is true, a more pregnant 
meaning, implying that the character of one gen- 
eration stamps itself upon the race, as here in this 
verse also." That is, here the prophecy is not 
merely that the Jewish nation, as a nation, should 
not pass away, but also that it should not lose its 
national characteristics ; amid all the changes of 
time it should remain unchanged ; and this 
prophecy has been wonderfully fulfilled in the 
unparalleled history of the Jews. 

35. This verse is wanting in the Sinaitic man- 
uscript. Tischendorf omits it. Alford retains it. 
It unquestionably belongs to the discourse, and 
is found in Mark 13 : 31 and Luke 21 : 33. Par- 
allel to it is Matt. 5 : 18. The physical universe 
is temporal and transient ; truth is eternal and 
immutable. The one is continually passing 
away before our eyes ; the other, like its divine 
author, is " the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever." Compare 2 Cor. 4 : 18 ; and on the cer- 
tainty of coming judgment, here specially re- 
ferred to, Deut. 32 : 34 ; Jer. 2 : 22 ; Kom. 2 : 5. 

36. But of that day. This phrase '■'■that 
day,''' 1 when used absolutely, as here, generally 
signifies in the N. T. the day of judgment, the 
great day, the consummation of all others. See 
for examples, Matt. 7 : 22 ; Luke 10 : 12 ; 1 Thess. 
5 : 4 ; 2 Tim. 1 : 12, 18 ; 4:8. So the book of 
revelation is called the Bible, i. e., The Book, 
or the Scriptures, i. e. , The Writings. Here the 
context as well as the general N. T. usage for- 
bids the idea of any other reference than to the 
day of judgment, when heaven and earth shall 
pass away. — Knoweth no one, no, not the 
angels in heaven. Mark (13:32) makes the 
important addition nor the Son. See note there. 
Observe here, however, that the whole of the 
rest of this chapter is based on this assertion of 
ignorance concerning the coming of the day of 
judgment, and that it is therefore clear, (1) that 
Christ does not confound the destruction of Je- 
rusalem with the end of the world, nor intend to 



tell his disciples when the end will be ; (2) that 
all schemes of interpretation of prophecy which 
assume to predict the day, are in direct conflict 
with Christ's solemn assertion that it is not 
known to man, nor to the angels in heaven, nor 
even to himself. 

37-30. The rest of this chapter is peculiar to 
Matthew. But the same truth — the necessity of 
constant watchfulness — is enforced in language 
analogous, and with the same or similar illustra- 
tions, in other discourses of our Lord reported 
in Luke 12 : 41-45 ; 17 : 26-37. Compare Christ's 
language there and here. Christ here employs the 
deluge as an illustration of the suddenness and 
certainty of the coming judgment. In Luke 17 : 
28-30 he adds a reference to the destruction of 
Sodom and Gomorrah. — Noe. The Greek form 
of Noah.— The coming of the Son of man. 
The same word coming (r[uQovolu)is used here, as 
in verses 3 and 27 above. Nearly all critics are 
agreed that here Christ refers to his second coming 
in the day of judgment ; why not there ? Observe 
the parallel : In the days before the flood the 
people had warning of the impending judgment 
(1 Pet. 3 : 19), but did not know the day or the hour, 
neglected the warning, and gave themselves up, 
in disregard of it, to luxury and self-indulgence ; 
and when the flood came, preparation was too 
late. Observe, too, that eating, drinking, and 
marrying are right, but to give the life up to 
them is wrong ; and that luxury and seeming 
security are precursors of danger and doom. 
Alford notices the implication that wine and its 
effects existed prior to the fall of Noah (Gen. 9 : 20), 
and that Christ indirectly confirms the O. T. ac- 
count of the flood. 

40, 41. Then shall two be in the field, 
laboring together. Saints and sinners shall be 
commingled to the last. Compare Luke 17 : 34. — 
One is taken. Not shall be ; the verb is in 
the present tense. Christ, as it were, stands in 
the midst of and sees the events he is describing. 
The word rendered taken is literally taken to or 
with another. The event is interpreted by John 
14 : 3, and yet more clearly by 1 Thess. 4 : 17 : 
" Then we which are alive and remain, shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, to 
meet the Lord in the air." Evidently this is not 
to be confounded with the flight mentioned in 
verses 16-18 ; that is voluntary escape, this is 
divine deliverance. — Two grinding at the 



266 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXIV. 



42 Watch ° therefore ; for ye know not what hour 
your Lord doth come. 

43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house 
had known in what watch the thief would come, he 
would have watched, and would not have suffered his 
house to be broken up. 

44 Therefore be ye also ready : for in such an hour 
as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. 



45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his 
lord hath made ruler over his household,? to give them 
meat in due season ? 1 

46 Blessed zs that servant, whom his lord, when he 
cometh, shall find so doing. 

47 Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him 
ruler r over all his goods. 



o Luke 12 : 39, 40 ; Rev. 3:3; 16 : 15 p Jer. 3 : 15 q ch. 13 : 52 r ch. 25 : 21. 



mill. The mills of the ancient Hebrews prob- 
ably differed but little from those at present in 




AN EASTERN MILL. 

use in the East. These consist of two circular 
stones, about eighteen inches or two feet in 
diameter. The upper stone has a hole in it, 
through which the grain passes. The mill is 
worked by women, the lowest servants, or cap- 
tives (Exod. 11:5; judg. i6 : 21), who are usually seated 
on the bare ground (is. « : 1, 2), facing each other. 
Both hold the handle, and pull to or push from, 
as men do with the cross-cut saw. 

The preceding verses set forth the certainty 
(verse 35), the unexpectedness (verse 36), and the 
suddenness (verses 37-39) of the coming judgment ; 
these set forth its closeness in separating those 
commingled on earth. " It will be a surprising 
and a separating day." — (Matthew Henry.) Com- 
pare chapter 25 : 31-33. Alford says of these 
verses, "Nor do they refer to the great judg- 
ment of 25 : 31, for then (verse 32) all shall be sum- 
moned : — but they refer to the millennial dispen- 
sation and the gathering of the elect to the Lord 
then.' 1 '' Whether there is or is not to be such a 
millennial dispensation prior to the final judg- 
ment I do not here discuss. It seems to me, 
however, that there is nothing here to indicate a 
double coming of Christ. In both passages a 
separation is described, though in different lan- 
guage and with different metaphors. 

42. Watch therefore. Not for the day of 
judgment, for no watching will give the disciples 
a knowledge of its approach ; but, in constant 
expectancy of its coming (2 Pet. z ■. 12), be watchful 
over yourselves, that ye may be always ready. 



That this is Christ's meaning is clear from par- 
allel exhortations to watchfulness. We are to 
watch and pray lest we enter into temptation 
(Matt. 26 : 41 ; Mark 14 : 38), accompanying our watch- 
ing with faith (1 Cor. 16 : 13), thanksgiving (col. 4 : 2), 

SObriety (l Thess. 5:6; 1 Pet. 5 : 8), and purity (Rev. 

16 : 15) ; see also note to Parable of ten virgins 
(ch. 25 : 1-13, p. 229). Observe (1) that the ignorance 
of the disciples concerning the day, as some man- 
uscripts have it, or the hour, as others have it, 
of Christ's coming, is the basis of the exhorta- 
tion to watchfulness ; (2) that the exhortation is 
given not only to the twelve, but to all Christ's 
disciples to the end of time (Mark 13 : 37) ; and (3) 
that the connection clearly implies that the pre- 
vious verses refer to Christ's second coming, not 
to the destruction of Jerusalem. Watch therefore ; 
wherefore ? Not because destruction did come 
unexpectedly on Jerusalem, but because it will 
come unexpectedly on the world. 

43, 44. But ye know this. The verb 
may be rendered either in the imperative or the 
indicative mood. The idea is the same in either 
case : Te do not know the day of Christ's com- 
ing ; but ye know the duty and the necessity of 
constant watchfulness. — If the master of the 
house. Not any particular person ; this verse 
is a parable in brief. — In what watch. The 
Jewish night was anciently divided into three 
watches, the first or " beginning of the watches " 
(Lam. 2:19) lasting from sunset to 10 p. m., the 
middle watch (judges 7 : 19) lasting from 10 p. m. to 
2 a. m., and the morning watch (Exod. 14 : 24; 1 Sam. 
11 : 11) lasting from 2 a. m. till sunrise. But un- 
der the Romans the watches were increased in 

number tO four (Matt. 14:25; Mark 13 : 35 and note). — 

The thief would come. Elsewhere in the 
N. T. Christ's coming is compared to that of a 

thief (l Thess. 5 : 1-10; Rev. 3 : 3; 16 : 15), because (1) it 

is sudden, (2) to those whose treasure is all 
earthly, it is destructive. To such his coming, 
whether in death or in judgment, leaves nothing 
(Luke 12: 20). — And would not have suffered 
his house to be broken up. Literally dug 
through. The houses of the East were often 
built of sun-burnt brick, clay, earth, or even 
loose stones, through which it was easy to make 
an opening. — Be ye also ready. In Matt. 6 : 
19, 20, Christ tells us how to be ready. 
45-47. In Luke 12 : 42-46 a similar parable is 



Ch. XXIV.] 



MATTHEW. 



267 



48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, 
My lord delayeth his comiDg ; 

49 And shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and 
to eat and drink with the drunken : 

50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day" 



when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he 
is not aware of, 

51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his 
portion with the hypocrites : there ' shall be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth. 



s 1 Thess. 5:3; Rev. 3:3 t chap. 25 : 30. 



given in answer to Peter's question, Speakest 
thou this parable unto us, or even unto all? 
Here it answers the same unuttered question. 
Whoever is the faithful and wise servant shall 
receive the reward ; whoever is the evil servant 
shall receive punishment. Compare with this 
parable Mark 13 : 34-37. — Who then is a 
faithful and wise servant? Faithful to his 
lord and so in his daily duty ; wise, i. e. prudent, 
foreseeing, looking for the coming of his lord. 
Compare Prov. 22 : 3 ; 27 : 12.— Whom his lord 
hath placed over his servants. Not merely 
the pastor, bishop, or apostle is here designated. 
Whoever, by reason of genius, position, or wealth, 
has influence or control over others is in so far 
placed over them, and is accountable to his Lord 
for the administration of his trust. — To give 
them meat. The object God has in making 
some men rulers, is that they may feed others. 
The great are to be the servants of the feeble. 
Compare Luke 22 : 26 ; 1 Cor. 14 : 12 ; 1 Pet. 5 : 
2, 3. — In the season. That is now, while the 
season for doing good lasts. Compare Gal. 6 : 
9, 10 and note. — He shall place him overall 
his possessions. Compare Rev. 2 : 26 ; 3 : 21. 
But how can each servant be placed over all 
God's possessions ? Alford answers the question 
well : " That promotion shall not be like earthly 
promotion, wherein the eminence of one excludes 
that of another, — but rather like the diffusion of 
love, in which, the more each has, the more there 
is for all." So each saint owns all God's posses- 
sions, even now (l Cor. 3 : 21, 22). 

48-51. But and if that evil servant 
shall say in his heart. The worst skepti- 
cism is that which lurks in the heart of the pro- 
fessed disciple, not that which openly assails the 
church from without. — My lord. Observe, he 
is a professed disciple of the Lord (comp. verses 
10,12). — Delayeth his coming. A frequent 
cause of apostacy in the church is practical un- 
belief in the second coming of Christ. Compare 
Rom. 2 : 4 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 3-12. — Shall begin to 
smite * * * and to eat, etc. The two 
forms of sin most common to those in high 
places, oppression and self-indulgence. — Shall 
cut him asunder. A punishment practised 
among both ancient Hebrews and other nations 

(l Sam. 15 : 33 ; 2 Sam 12 : 31 ; Dan. 2 : 5 ; 3 : 29 ; Heb. 11 : 37). — 

And shall appoint his portion, i. e. his 

fellowship (Rev. 21:8), with the hypocrites. 
See note on chap. 6 : 2, and compare Rev. 21 : 27 ; 
22 : 15. — There shall be weeping and 



gnashing of teeth. See note on chap. 8 : 12. 
In this verse is one of the incidental evidences 
that the metaphors of Scripture cannot be liter- 
ally interpreted. Cutting asunder indicates de- 
struction ; weeping and gnashing of teeth, a living 
in suffering. Neither can be regarded as indi- 
cating here anything more than a terrible and 
final punishment. 

Observe the contrast between the good and 
the evil servant. The good servant is faithful, 
to his lord and in his trust ; prudent, in watching 
for his lord's coming ; beneficent, using his power 
as a trust, for others ; patient, in continuing his 
well-doing till the coming of his lord ; and his 
blessing is an enlarged honor, and a grander 
sphere of activity in the future. The evil serv- 
ant becomes a practical disbeliever in Christ's 
second coming, uses his power to oppress his 
fellow-servants, and to gratify himself, finds his 
companions with the self-indulgent, not with the 
self-denying ; and to him judgment comes sud- 
denly (Matt, i -. 26, 27), unexpectedly, without warning, 
and with terrible and final condemnation, that 
separates him from the saints, and allots his 
portion with sinners. Compare Ezekiel, chap. 34 ; 
and observe the illustration of the evil servant 
in the corrupt and worldly among the ministry 
in all ages and all branches of the church. 



Ch. 25. CUEIST'S DISCOURSE ON THE LAST DAIS 
CONCLUDED. 

Preliminary Note. — This chapter is peculiar 
to Matthew. It contains a description of the 
judgment, first in the parable of the ten virgins 
(1-13), second, in that of the talents (14-30), third, 
in a description which is pictorial, but not para- 
bolic (31-46). A question requires statement, if 
not answer, before entering on the interpretation 
of the chapter in detail. The millenarian com- 
mentators, e. g., Stier, Olshausen, Alford, hold 
that the millennium intervenes between the judg- 
ment described in the two parables (1-30) and 
that depicted in the closing section of this 
chapter (31-46). According to this view Christ 
first comes, selects his faithful followers (the 
wise virgins, the industrious servants), who 
reign with him for a thousand years. At the 
expiration of this time he comes again, to judge 
the rest of mankind according to their works, 
and this is the judgment described in verses 
31-46. In support of this view reference is had 
to Rev., chap. 20, and to 1 Thess. 4 : 16, 17, with 
2 Thess. 1 : 7-10. It is also said that it is the 



268 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXV. 



doctrine of the Scripture that the world of unbe- 
lievers is to be judged according to its works 

(Eccles. 3 : 17; 12 : 14 ; Matt. 16 : 27 ; Rom. 2 : 6 ; 1 Cor. 3:13; Rev. 

20:12, 13; 22:12); that from this judgment believ- 
ers are delivered by faith in Christ, so that they 

Shall not COme into judgment (John 3 : 18; 5 : 21 ; 1 Cor. 

11 : 31), but shall themselves judge the world 
(Matt. 19 : 28 ; i Cor. g : 2, 3). It is further argued that 
a distinction between the two judgments is indi- 
cated here ; that in the first two parables only 
the professed followers of Christ are judged ; 
that in the first one the condemned virgins are 
not only professed, but real disciples, who are 
waiting for their Lord, with lamps lighted and 
filled with oil ; that in the closing picture of the 
last judgment Christ represents in the "all na- 
tions" gathered before him only the world of 
non-believers, including the heathen, whom he 
distinguishes from his own brethren (ver. 40), who 
have already entered with him into glory, and 
that he renders the judgment wholly upon the 
ground of works, not of faith, wnich excludes 
the idea that true believers in him are among 
those there assembled for judgment. 

Whether there is such a distinction between 
Christ's pre-millennial and final coming I do not 
here discuss. For the significance of the pas- 
sages which are supposed to support that view, 
see notes on them, especially Rev. chap. SO. It 
must suffice to say (1) that Christ evidently rec- 
ognizes here but one public and manifested ap- 
pearing of the Son of man (chap. 24 : 27, 39, 44, 50 ; 25 : 

I, 13 ; especially comp. chap. 24 : 30, 31 with 25 : 31) ; (2) that 

whatever selection of the saints takes place prior 
to the judgment will therefore apparently take 
place in an unrecognized manner, may be taking 
place now ; (3) that there is but one true judg- 
ment-day, and that the judgment of all mankind 
will be conducted upon the same general princi- 
ples ; a part will not be judged by one standard 
and a part by another, for the servants as well as 
the non-believers will be judged according to 

their works (Matt. 7 : 21-23 ; 24 : 45-51 ; John 5 : 28, 29 ; 2 Cor. 

5 : io ; Gal. 6 : 8). And that this is not inconsistent 
with the doctrine that they will be saved by 
faith and not by works is apparent from John 
15 : 2, 4, 6 ; Ephes. 2 : 10 ; James 2 : 17, 18 ; for 
good works are the fruits of faith (Heb. chap. n). 
Whether we can, from the unfulfilled prophecies 
of Scripture, frame a more definite system of 
last things, I at present doubt. Alford himself, 
who lays down the millenarian view as inter- 
preted above very positively in the first edition 
of his commentary, in a later edition qualifies his 
strong assertion. "Having now entered," he 
says, "on the deeper study of the prophetic 
portions of the N. T., I do not feel the same con- 
fidence in the exegesis I once did as to prophetic 
interpretations here given of the three portions 
of this chapter 25. But I have no other system 



to substitute, and some of the points here dwelt 
on seem to me as weighty as ever, J very much 
question whether the thorough study of Scripture 
prophecy will not make me more and more distrust- 
ful of all human systematizing, and less willing to 
hazard strong assertion on any portion of tlie sub- 
jecV With the spirit of this self -distrust and 
doubt I most heartily concur. The practical 
lessons of the unfulfilled prophecies are plain ; 
their full prophetic meaning I am more and 
more persuaded can be interpreted only by their 
fulfillment. 

Ch. 25 : 1-13. PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS.— 
Daily grace essential to future glory. 

Preliminary Note. — To understand this par- 
able, some acquaintance with marriage ceremo- 
nies as they formerly existed among the Jews, 
is necessary. This, fortunately, it is not difficult 
to obtain ; for not only ancient literature de- 
scribes them very fully, but the Eastern marriage 
ceremonies of the first century have remained 
substantially unchanged. 

The betrothal was itself a much more solemn 
act than with us, and was often accompanied 
by a public ceremonial. Usually a period of 
twelve months intervened between the betrothal 
and the wedding ceremony, during which time the 
bride-elect continued to live with her friends, and 
all communications between herself and the bride- 
groom were carried on through the medium of a 
' ' friend of the bridegroom ' ' ( John 3: 29). No religious 
ceremonies appear to have been performed at the 
wedding, but it is thought that some formal ratifi- 
cation of the betrothal took place, with an oath ; to 
this custom there may be an allusion in Ezek. 6 : 8 
and Mai. 2 : 14. The essential feature in the wed- 
ding ceremony consisted in taking the bride to her 
future husband's home. Throughout the day 
preceding this ceremony, both parties fasted, 
confessing their sins, and seeking forgiveness. 
It is thought, also, that the bride prepared her- 
self for the wedding ceremony by a bath, taken, 
as it certainly is in modern times, with some 
pomp, and as an important part in her share of 

the Wedding Ceremonial (Ruth 3:3; Ezek. 23 : 40 ; Ephes. 

5 : 26, 27). This is now usually done on the preced- 
ing day. When the evening of the wedding day 
arrived, the bridegroom, attired in wedding ap- 
parel (isaiah 61 : io), of which a peculiar nuptial 
head-dress was a characteristic, set out, at a fixed 
hour, accompanied with his companions, known 
as " children of the bride-chamber" (Matt. 9 : 15), to 
bring the bride either to her new home, or to 
some other place appointed for her reception. 
It would appear from some modern accounts, 
that sometimes the bride is brought to the house 
of the bridegroom, who remains there to receive 
her. This marriage procession was, and still is, 
the essential feature in the Eastern wedding; 
and it gave a peculiar significance to the Hebrew 



Oh. XXV.] 



MATTHEW. 



269 



phrase, to "take a wife." It was a symbol of 
capture, which in a ruder form is still preserved 
among some barbarous tribes in Africa, and 
among the modern Arabs, with whom the cap- 
ture and removal of the bride is accomplished 
with considerable show of violence. The bride, 
attired in her bridal costume (jer. 2 : 32), awaited 
the arrival of the bridegroom. This costume, 
when she was a maid, was always white (Rev. 
19 : 7, 8), often richly embroidered (Ps. 45 : 
essential parts of it were a wreath of myrtle on 
the head, or, according to some authorities, a 
chaplet, gold or gilt ; a peculiar girdle encir- 
cling her waist, and a white veil (Gen. 24 : 65) not 
only concealing her face, but completely covering 
her person. This last was regarded as a symbol 
of her submission to her husband (1 cor. 11 : 10). 
With her maids she joined the procession, which 



■11 

■ tf III IP 




A MODERN MARRIAGE PROCESSION IN JERUSALEM. 



then marched back through the streets to the 
appointed place, where a feast was prepared for 
the company. Music, torches, and every demon- 
stration of joy accompanied the train. The for- 
mer, produced largely by small drums, and tam- 
bourines, is described, in accounts of the modern 
procession, as of a very extraordinay description. 
Often gymnasts or others accompany these pro- 
cessions, in the modern ceremony, performing 
their feats of dexterity before an admiring throng. 
The accompanying illustration, from the pencil of 
Mr. A. L. Rawson, is an exact reproduction of such 
processions, as they may be seen to-day in the 
streets of Jerusalem. As the procession neared 
the bridegroom's house it was joined by other 
friends of the bride and groom, swelling its 
tumult and accompanying it to its destination. 
When this was reached the procession entered, 
including the invited guests ; the door was then 
closed, and no one arriving subsequently was 
permitted to enter (vers. 10-12, note). The mar- 
riage contract was then signed, and the party 
sat down to the feast. At the close of the meal 
came the nuptial benediction, pronounced ac- 



cording to a prescribed form, by the bridegroom 
himself ; if the bride were a virgin, parched 
corn was distributed among the guests ; and the 
marriage ceremony was concluded by conducting 
the bride, in state, to her bed-chamber. The ac- 
companying festivities, however, lasted for days, 
sometimes for a fortnight. For Scripture illus- 
trations of marriage ceremonies, see Gen. ch. 24 ; 
Judges, ch. 14 ; Ruth, ch. 4 ; and John 2 : 1-10. 
The general lesson of this parable appears to 
me to be plain, though it has sometimes been 
missed, and oftener not clearly stated. The ten 
virgins go forth with their lamps lighted to meet 
the bridegroom. They thus represent professing 
Christians, in whom the light of piety has been 
really, or at least in appearance, lighted. All 
slumber and sleep while the bridegroom tarries. 
The sole distinction between them is that five 
have oil with which to replenish their lamps, and 
five have not. Oil was used in the Jewish econ- 
omy to burn in the lights of the temple, and to 
anoint both kings and priests. It was thus a 

Symbol Of divine grace (Psalm 45 : 7, 8 ; Acts 10 : 38 ; Hcb. 

1 : 9). By anointing with oil the king became the 



270 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXV. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 
ten virgins," which took their lamps, and went 
forth to meet the bridegroom.' 
2 And five" of them were wise, and five were foolish. 



3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 
no oil x with them ; 

4 But the wise took oil J in their vessels with their 
lamps. 

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered 2 
and slept. 



u Ps. 45 : 14 ; Ca. 6 : 8, 9 ; 2 Cor. 11:2 v John 3 : 



i chap. 22 : 10 ; Jer. 24 : 2-9 x Is. 48 : 1 y 1 John 2 : 20 z 1 Th. 5 : 6. 



Lord's anointed. It is by the grace which this 
oil symbolized that we are made kings and 
priests unto God. The chief lesson of the para- 
ble, then, I take to be this : It is not enough to 
experience religion once for all, and to join, eyen 
with a real experience, the professed band of 
Christ's followers. Our prayer must be for 
daily grace, as for daily bread. And those who 
have been content merely to light their lamps, 
without providing a supply of oil, i. e., to begin 
a Christian life without recognizing their continual 
dependence upon God for continual supplies of grace, 
will at the last find the door of his kingdom shut 
against them. Thus the distinction is not be- 
tween those who merely profess and those who 
really possess religion, but between those who are 
content with one experience and those who rec- 
ognize their need of continuous supply of divine 
grace. The Galatians were foolish virgins (Gal. 
3 : l ; 5 : 4, 7). The parable emphasizes and is inter- 
preted by such passages as John 15 : 4-6, etc. ; 
2 Tim. 3:1; Heb. 4 : 16 ; 12 : 15, 28 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 18. 
Parallel to it is the lesson of the manna, which 
had to be gathered day by day (Exod. i6 : 19-21). 
Thus, too, this parable emphasizes the soul's de- 
pendence on God, the next parable the soul's 
duty to God ; this our need, that our obligation ; 
this measures us by what we receive, that by 
what we do; this is Calvinistic, that is Armin- 
ian. It would not be safe to conclude that any 
souls really lighted from on high will apostatize 
and forever fall away. The parable represents 
the virgins as they appear to the bystander, the 
disciples as they appear to the world. The 
event alone shows who have oil with their lamps 
and who have not. For other lessons of the par- 
able, see the notes in detail. Mr. Arnot calls atten- 
tion to the striking contrast between the insig- 
nificance of the story and the solemn sublimity 
of its lesson. "A few country girls arriving too 
late for a marriage, and being therefore excluded 
from the festival, is not in itself a great event ; 
but I know not any words in human language 
that teach a more piercing lesson than the con- 
clusion of this similitude." 

1, 2. Then shall the kingdom of heaven 
be likened unto. Then connects the follow- 
ing parable with the preceding chapter. The 
discourse is all one. It is in the second coming 
of Christ that the kingdom of heaven is like this 
story of the virgins. — Ten virgins. No special 
significance attaches to the number. It was a 



usual number in a marriage procession. Nor 
any to the fact that virgins are mentioned. In 
all ages of the world virgins have been chosen as 
bridesmaids. The Roman Catholic deduction in 
favor of professed virginity deserves to be men- 
tioned only as a warning against that literal 
interpretation of details, which is by no means 
confined to Roman Catholic interpreters. The 
deduction of Alford and Olshausen that both 
the wise and the foolish are true disciples of 
Christ, appears to me to be equally unfounded. 
If all had not been represented as virgins the pic- 
ture would have been false to real life. — Five 
of them were wise and five were foolish. 
For the meaning of this contrast compare Matt. 
7 : 25-27 ; 24 : 45 ; 2 Pet. 1 : 5-9. Observe that 
in the Scripture godliness is always represented 
as wisdom, and ungodliness as folly (Psalm 14 : 1 ; 

Prov. 8 : 35, 36 ; Ephcs. 5:15). 

3, 4. These verses mark the only contrast 
between the two classes. See Preliminary Note. 
Observe that in the outset no distinction is visible 
between the wise and foolish virgins ; both have 
lamps burning, but the wise have the lasting 
supply of oil (grace), the foolish have not. So 
in the church no visible line separates those 
whose light is fed by their own resolution from 
those whose dependence is a continual supply of 
daily grace from God. The Jewish lamp was a 
shallow vessel filled with oil. The wick floated 




ASSTBIAN LAMPS. 
(From originals in British Museum.) 

on the oil. Our illustration represents some 
lamps exhumed in the Assyrian excavations. 
The originals are in the British Museum. Others 
almost exactly like these have been recently dis- 



Ch. XXV.] 



MATTHEW. 



271 



6 And at midnight" there was a cry" made. Behold, 
the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out c to meet him. 

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their 
lamps. 

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your 
oil ; for our lamps are gone out. d 

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there 



be not enough for us and you ; but go ye rather e to 
them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 

io And while 1 they went to buy, the bridegroom 
came ; and they that were ready went in with him to 
the marriage: and the door was shut.e 

ii Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, h 
Lord, Lord, open to us. 



a Rev. 16: 15.... b 1 Theas. 4 : 16 c Am. 4 : 12... 

Rev. 22 : 1 



d Luke 12: 35.... e Isa. 55 : l,fi....f Am. 8 : 12, 13.... g Heb. 3 : 18, 19 ; 
l....h chap. 7 : 21-23; Heb. 12 : 17. 



covered in Jerusalem. In the marriage proces- 
sion such lamps were placed on sticks, and thus 
converted into torches. In separate vessels, oil 
was carried with which to replenish the lamps. 

5. While the Bridegroom tarried. In 
this there is a hint that the Lord would not 
come immediately, nor so soon as his church 
expected him. The same hint is given in chap. 
24 : 48. Observe that there the wicked servant 
thinks the Lord delays, so watches not for his 
coming ; here the foolish virgin thinks he is 
coming immediately, so makes no provision of 
oil ; an indication that a sinful heart can find in 
directly contrary beliefs excuses for the same 
real neglect. — They all slumbered and slept. 
Literally, nodded and fell asleep. The fact is 
hardly to be spiritually pressed. If at all, it 
seems to me that Calvin, and following him, 
Amot, give the key to its true meaning. "Dis- 
ciples in the body cannot be occupied always and 
only with the expectation of their Lord's ap- 
pearing. Sleep and food, family and business, 
make demands on them as well as on others, de- 
mands which they cannot and should not resist. 
If the coming of the Bridegroom be delayed till 
midnight the virgins must (naturally will) slum- 
ber ; this is not a special weakness of individ- 
uals, it is the common necessity of nature." — 
(Amot.) And observe the implication, if the 
Christian has grace in his heart, he is always 
ready, though asleep ; if not, he is unready, 
though he were wakeful and seemingly watch- 
ing. Not what death finds us doing, but how 
death finds us furnished, is the important question. 

6, 7. At midnight. Observe the implication 
here, which underlies the instruction of the pre- 
vious chapter, that the coming of the Lord will 
be unexpected. — There was a cry made. 
Either by watchers more wakeful, or by the first 
of the approaching procession. Parallel to this 
cry is the "great shout" and "the voice of the 
archangel," which shall accompany the descent 
of the Lord. (1 Thess. 4 : 16). — Trimmed their 
lamps. "The hand lamp naturally was small 
and would not contain a supply of oil for many 
hours. The trimming itself implied two things, 
an infusion of fresh oil, and removal of whatever 
had gathered round, and was clogging the wick. 
For the last purpose a little instrument, often 
hung by a slender chain from the lamp itself, 




The 



pointed, for the removal 
of the snuffs from the 
flame, and with a little 
hook at the side by which 
the wick, when need was, 
might be drawn further 
out. This instrument 
is sometimes found, still 
attached to the bronze 
lamps, discovered in 
sepulchres. " — ( Trench . ) 
One of these instruments 
is to be seen in the an- 
nexed cut, hanging just above the lamp, 
illustration is copied from a Roman bronze. 

8,9. Gone out. Literally going out. The 
apparent piety which is not furnished with con- 
stant supplies of divine grace may seem bright in 
life, but fails in the hour of trial, especially of 
death. — Not so. In the Greek the negative is 
expressed much more emphatically : By no means 
(pjttote). Observe the significance of (1) the 
request: Give us of your oil. "How fondly in 
such a crisis the empty lean on the full." — 
(Amot.) (2.) The answer : Not so; lest there be not 
enough for us and you. In this answer they show 
their wisdom. No one can supply grace for 
another's need. Incidently there is here a wit- 
ness against the Roman Catholic doctrine of 
works of supererogation, i. e., that the saints 
accumulate a store of good works from which 
the church may draw for those who have no 
merit of their own. Comp. Psalm 49 : 7 ; Rom. 
14 : 12 ; IPet. 4 : 18. (3.) The counsel : Go ye 
rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 
This was the best advice possible ; but it was too 
late to comply with it. At midnight the stores 
would be shut. The opportunity for purchasing, 
which the foolish had enjoyed in common with 
the wise, was now past. Alford's interpretation 
of the language here, Go to them that sell, as "no 
mean argument for a set and appointed ministry 
and moreover for a paid ministry," appears to 
me a curious illustration of the literalism that 
misinterprets. Surely the ministry are not shop- 
keepers to sell the grace of God. The interpre- 
tation of this direction is to be found in Isaiah 
55 : 1 and Rev. 3 : 18. God alone dispenses 
divine grace ; and the very point of the parable 
here is that one disciple cannot supply another 



272 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXV. 



12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, 
I' know you not. 

13 Watch J therefore, for ye know neither the day 
nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 

14 For" the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling 



into a far country, who called his own servants, and 
delivered unto them his goods. 

15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another 
two, and to another one ; to every man according to 
his several ability; 1 and straightway took his journey. 



i Hab. 1 : 13 j chap. 24 : 42, 44 ; Mark 13 : 33, 35 : Luke 21 : 36. . . .k Luke 19 : 12. etc. 

Eph. 4 : 11. 



.IRom. 12 : 6; 1 Cor. 12 : 4, etc. 



10-12. Mr. William Ward in his ' ' View of the 
Hindoos," quoted in Trench, gives an account 
of an Oriental wedding, which illustrates the 
figure here. "After waiting two or three hours, 
at length, near midnight, it was announced, as 
if in the very words of the Scripture, Behold the 
bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. All 
the persons employed now lighted their lamps, 
and ran with them in their hands to fill up their 
stations in the procession. Some of them had 
lost their lights and were unprepared ; but it was 
then too late to seek them, and the cavalcade 
moved forward to the house of the bride. * * * 
The bridegroom was carried in the arms of a 
friend, and placed upon a superb seat in the 
midst of the company, where he sat a short time, 
and then went into the house, the door of which 
was immediately shut, and guarded by Sepoys. 
I and others expostulated with the door-keepers, 
but in vain." Observe the significance of the 
spiritual lesson. The foolish virgins are now in 
earnest, but it is too late. "The salvation of the 
soul depends, not on frightened earnestness in 
the moment of departure, but on faith's calm 
closing with Christ, before the moment of de- 
parture comes." — (Arnot.) 

The door was shut. Christ is the door 
(John 10 : 7, 9), and now stands open to all who will 
come unto the Father by him (Acts 2 : 39), the door 
which admitted Aaron after his idolatry, David 
after his adultery, Peter after his denial, Saul of 
Tarsus after his persecution of the church. But 
this door does not stand open forever (Luke 13 : 24, 25). 
— Afterward came also the other virgins. 
Not having obtained the oil, but without it, yet 
hoping for admission notwithstanding. This at 
least is the implication of the narrative, for the 
shops would be closed at midnight — and of the 
parable, for its object is to teach that divine grace 
must be sought now, while it is to-day (Heb. 3 : 15). 
" They came looking for mercy when now it was 
time for judgment." — (Augustine.) To the mar- 
riage-feast (heaven), none are admitted without 
light (holiness), which can be sustained only by 
oil (divine grace), (Ephes. 5:5; Heb. 12:14). "The 
door was shut, as much for the security and joy, 
without interruption of those within, as for the 
lasting exclusion of those without (Gen. 7 : 16 ; Rev. 
8:12).— (Trench.) In Rev. 21 : 25, 27, the gates 
of the heavenly city are represented as always 
open, and the implication is that those who are 
without are excluded by no external or arbitrary 
barrier, but by their own nature and spirit. 



Com p. Rev. 22 : 11, 15. — I know you not, i. e., 

recognize you not as bridesmaids. Comp. Matt. 
7 : 23, and note ; also 2 Tim. 2 : 19. He will not 
know those at the last who knew not him in life. 
Comp. Matth. 10 : 32, 33, and note. 

13. Watch therefore ; for ye know 
neither the day nor the hour. The words, 
Wherein the Son of man cometh, are omitted by 
the best manuscripts. But they undoubtedly 
interpret aright the meaning of the verse. This 
carries us back to Matt. 24 : 42, and connects 
the parables of this chapter with the warnings of 
the previous chapter. Thus the admonition to 
watchfulness is the text of the whole discourse ; 
and this and the following parable both empha- 
size and interpret that admonition. Watch, that 
divine grace fail you not, is the lesson of this 
parable ; Watch, that your own powers and op- 
portunities are not neglected or misused, is the 
lesson of the parable of the talents. 

Oh. 25 : 14-30. PARABLE OF THE TEN TALENTS.— 
Diligence in Duty Essential to Future Glory. 

This parable is peculiar to Matthew. Mark 
13 : 34-36 contains an abbreviated form of it. 
Luke 19 : 11-27 contains an analogous parable, 
that of the ten pounds, which has sometimes 
been confounded with this, but is different in 
structure, and was uttered on a different occa- 
sion. The central teaching of this parable is clear. 
Its primary application is to his immediate disci- 
ples. Our Lord, when he ascended up on high, 
gave various gifts to them, adapting his divine 
grace to their natural capacities (Ephes. 4 : 8-12), and 
for their use of these gifts of the Spirit, he here 
teaches them they must give account on- his 
return. Secondarily it applies to all his disciples 
throughout all time ; for all are his servants and 
receive their all from him, and for their use of it 
must give account to him. Thirdly it applies to 
all men; for all receive their native capacities 
and their opportunities, their characters and their 
circumstances, from God ; he bestowes them not 
as a gift, but as a trust ; and for their use thereof 
they will be called to account. The sin against 
which Christ admonishes his disciples here is not 
that of the unjust steward (Luke 16 : 1), for here 
there is no wasting of goods ; nor that of the 
prodigal (Luke 15 : 13), for here there is no riotous 
living; nor that of the unmerciful servant (Matt, 
is : 25), for here is no indifference to humanity ; 
nor that of the evil servant (Matt. 24 : 49), for here 
there is neither excess nor oppression. Our Lord 



Ch. XXV.] 



MATTHEW. 



273 



16 Then he that had received the five talents went 
and traded with the same, and made them other five 
talents. 

17 And likewise he that had received two, he also 
gained other two. 

18 But he that had received one, went and digged in 
the earth, and hid his lord's money. 

19 After a long time, 1 " the lord of those servants Com- 
eth, and reckoneth " with them. 

20 And so he that had received five talents, came and 
brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliver- 
edst unto me five talents ; behold, I have gained be- 
side them five talents more. 

21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and 



faithful servant : thou hast been faithful over a few 
things, I will make thee ruler over many things: en- 
ter thou into the joy of thy lord. 

22 He also that had received two talents, came, and 
said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: be- 
hold, I have gained two other talents beside them. 

23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and 
faitiiful servant : thou hast been faithful over a few 
things, I will make thee ruler over many things : enter 
thou into the joy of thy lord. 

24 Then he which had received the one talent, came, 
and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, 
reaping where thou hast not sown,' and gathering 
where thou hast not strawed : 



m ch. 24 : 



. n ch. 18 : 23, 24 Luke 12 : 44 ; 22 : 29 ; Rev. 3 : 21 p Job 21 : 15 q Jer. 2 : 31. 



admonishes us that non-use is a sin as truly as 
misuse, neglect as truly as flagrant disobedience. 
The whole parable pivots on the words unprofit- 
able servant, and it is one of solemn warning, not 
only to every church-member, but also to every 
person, who is so living as neither to grow in grace 
himself nor to edify others. " The warning here 
is for those who hide their talent, who, being 
equipped of God, for a sphere of activity, do yet 
choose, in Lord Bacon's words, 'a goodness soli- 
tary and particular, rather than generative and 
seminal.'" — (Trench.) The same lesson is en- 
forced by the parable of the barren fig-tree 
(Luke 13 : 6-9). IT or comparison of this with preced- 
ing parable see Preliminary Note on the Parable 
of the Ten Virgins, above. For special lessons 
here see notes below. 

14, 15. A man traveling into a far 
country. By this is figured primarily the seem- 
ing withdrawal of Christ from his church, and 
secondarily, the seeming withdrawal of God from 
all direct participation in human affairs. See 
Matt. 21 : 33, note. — His own servant. Rather 
slaves. These among the Romans were not only 
employed in the usual domestic offices and in 
the labors of the field, the mines, and the 
factory, but also as factors or agents for their 
masters in the management of business, and 
were often entrusted with property to a large 
amount. — Five talents. The Hebrew (silver) 
talent is variously estimated at from $1500 to 
$2250, the gold talent as high as $55000. See 
for fuller account of it, note on Matt. 18 : 24. 
The amount, therefore, here represented is con- 
siderable. Its spiritual significance is partially 
conveyed by our English use of the word talent, 
as equivalent to power or capacity, especially 
mental, a use which has grown out of this para- 
ble. But it also includes powers which are 
external, as well as those which are inherent in 
the character, and therefore wealth and position. 
Chrysostom gives the meaning well. "The tal- 
ents here are each person's ability, whether in 
money, or in teaching, or in what thing soever." 
— To every man according to his several 
abilty. If there be any lesson in this it is not 
that grace is given according to the measure of 



faith, for faith is the gift of God, nor that grace 
is adapted to the natural ability, for there is no 
real distinction between natural and supernatural 
ability, all are from God. In human life we grade 
our trusts according to the natural ability of the 
recipient ; God gives to different men in different 
measures, as it pleases him, but always grades 
his gifts, so that ability and opportunity go 
together. "No one is burdened beyond his 
ability (Exod. 4 : 10-12) ; therefore he is justly com- 
pelled to render an account." — (Bengel.) Also, 
there is a difference in endowments and therefore 

in requirements (Rom. 12 : 16 ; 1 Cor. 12 : 4-31 ; Ephes. 4 : 7-12). 

Observe the teaching in these passages, as in this 
parable, that there are no absolute gifts ; all are 
trusts, to be employed in God's service for the 
edification of his church (1 Cor. 11 : 12). 

16, 18. Traded with them. Literally la- 
bored with them, i. e., he added to them by his own 
industry. Whoever, in allegiance to his divine 
Master, and by his diligent use of God's gifts, 
adds to the spiritual value of his own character 
(1 Pet. 1 : 5-10), or to the true welfare of his fellow- 
men (Rom. 15 : 2 ; 1 Cor. 14 : 12), fulfills the part Of a 

faithful servant. The result is gain to God, a 
true addition to God's wealth. — Digged in the 
earth. A common method of hiding treasure 
in the East. Matt. 13 : 44-40, and note. 

19-23. After a long time. A hint that the 
second coming of Christ would not take place 
immediately. Compare Matt. 24 : 48 ; 25 : 5, note. 
Observe (1) the language of the servants, Thou 
deliveredst unto me five talents; behold /have 
gained beside them (literally upon them). In Luke 
it is " Thy pound hath gained five pounds. ' ' Both 
statements are true. All gain in spiritual things 
is both ours and God's ; whether in personal ex- 
perience (i Cor. 15; 10; phi. 2: 12, 13) or in Christian 
work (John 15 : 5 ; l Cor. 3 : 9) we are co-laborers with 
God. His talent makes a gain ; yet we also make 
it, but always upon his talents, i. e., by their 
means. (2.) The language of the Lord. He com- 
mends not the acquisition but the fidelity. ' ' Faith- 
fulness, not success, is rewarded." — (Alford.) 
And the reward conferred is a larger sphere of 
labor : " I will make thee ruler over many things." 
This is yet clearer in Luke : "Have thou au- 



274 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXV. 



25 And I was afraid,' and went, and hid thy talent 
in the earth : lo, there thou hast that is thine. 

26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wick- 
ed" and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap 
where I sowed not, and gather where I have not 
strawed : 

27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money 
to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should 
have received mine own with usury. 



28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it 
unto him which hath ten talents. 

29 For unto <■ every one that hath shall be given, and 
he shall have abundance : but from him that hath not 
shall be taken away u even that which he hath. 

30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer 
darkness : v there shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth. 



■Prov. 26 :13; Rev. 21 :8....bc1>. 18: 32; Job 15: 5, 6; Luke 19: 22; 

u Luke 10 :42... 



Jude 15 t eh. 13 : 12 ; Mark 4 : 25 ; Luke 8 : 18 ; 19 : 26. .. 

■ ch. 8 : 12. 



thority over ten cities." This principle of 
reward is constantly illustrated in this life, where 
fidelity in the smaller sphere leads to the larger 
one. But it receives its fulfillment in the other 
life, where reward is not merely kingly honors, 
but kingly responsibility and labor. (2 Tim. 4:8; 
Rev. 2 : io. Comp. Heb. i : 14.) And it is illustrated here 
in the closing sentence, "Enter thou into the 
joy of thy Lord," whose joy was and is in doing 
good. Matt. 18 : 13, note. Observe Leighton's 
comment on this promised reward : " Here some 
drops of joy enter into us ; there we shall enter 
into joy, as vessels put into a sea of happiness." 

24-27. The spiritual significance of this ser- 
vant's report and his Lord's answer appears to 
me to be this : One of the most common causes 
of spiritual inactivity and indolence is a morbid 
fear of making mistakes, of losing the one talent 
in trading instead of increasing it, of doing harm 
rather than good by work. And this is founded 
on a false conception of God as a hard master, 
who calls to rigorous account for the results of 
our work, whereas he calls us to account only 
for the purposes that animate us (Rom. 8 : 1 ; 2 Cor. 
8 : 12). To this spirit Christ replies in effect, If it 
were as you imagine, God a hard and exacting 
master, this should make you afraid of neglect 
and indolence, for he will call you to account for 
non-use as well as for misuse. The foundation 
of the fear here rebuked is want of faith. The 
slothful servant does not recognize that he is to 
work in God as well as for God. Illustrating it 
by contraries is Augustine's prayer : " Give what 
thou dost command, and command what thou 
wilt." Observe, however, the implication in the 
Lord's rebuke, " Thou wicked and slothful ser- 
vant." The excuses which men offer for idle- 
ness, whether to others or their own consciences, 
are false ; the real reason is spiritual sloth. 

One talent. There is a significance in the 
fact that it is the servant with one talent who is 
idle, which Chrysostom puts well : " Let no man 
say, I have but one talent, and can do nothing ; 
for thou canst even by one approve thyself. For 
thou art not poorer than that widow (1 Kings n : 12) ; 
thou art not more uninstructed than Peter and 
John, who were both unlearned and ignorant 
men (Acts 4: 13)." — Money-changers. These 
were men who carried on a business midway be- 
tween modern banking and modern pawnbrok- 



ing. They took money on deposit and loaned it 
out on interest, paying interest themselves to the 
depositors. Their interest varied from ten to 
thirty- six per cent. ; its average was from twelve 
to eighteen per cent. — Usury. Interest. This 
does not determine the rightfulness of the tak- 
ing of usury, or even of interest. Christ simply 
employs the common affairs of life as an illustra- 
tion, without, however, passing judgment on 
the principle involved in them. Taking usury 
was common among the Greeks, but the Jews 
were forbidden to take it from their brethren 

(Exod. 22 : 25 ; Lev. 25 : 36 ; Deut. 23 : 19), but might take it 

from foreigners (Deut. 23 : 20). The spiritual sig- 
nificance of the language of verse 27, "Thou 
oughtest, therefore, to have put my money to 
the exchangers," is not quite clear. Alford's 
interpretation and application is reasonable and 
noteworthy: "The machinery of religious and 
charitable societies in our own day is very much 
in the place of the money-changers. Let the 
subscribers to them take heed lest they be not 
in the degraded case of this servant, even if his 
excuse had been genuine." 

28, 29. The principle here enunciated is illus- 
trated continually in life. It is embodied in the 
proverb, "Drawn wells are never dry," and in 
the aphorism of the wise man in Prov. 11 : 24. 
Non-use leads to death. The limb used is 
strengthened, disused becomes weak. By exer- 
cise the mental faculty acquires strength, by in- 
dolence loses power. Even money can increase 
only by being used for others' benefit. But 
these illustrations point to the final fulfillment of 
the principle, in the day when the indolent will 
find both his power and his opportunity for doing 
good forever taken away from him (john 9 : 4). 

30. See Matt. 8 : 12, note, where the bearing 
of this language on the doctrine of future pun- 
ishment is considered. Observe that the same 
condemnation is visited on the unprofitable servant 
as on the guest without a wedding garment (Matt. 
22 : is), the hypocrites (chap. 24 : 51), and the workers 
of iniquity (Luke 13 : 27, 28). Compare with the 
teaching of this parable the parable of the fig tree 
(Luke 13 : 6-9), that of the vineyard (isaiah 6 : 1-7), and 
the injunction of 1 Tim. 4 : 14, " Neglect not the 
gift that is in thee ; " and observe that the smaller 
the apparent gift, the more reason for its careful 
and diligent cultivation, development, and use. 



Ch. XXV.] 



MATTHEW. 



275 



31 When w the Son of man shall come in his glory, 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon 
the throne of his glory : 

32 And before x him shall be gathered all nations ; 
and he shall separate 1 them one from another, as a 
shepherd z divideth his sheep from the goats : 



33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand," but 
the goats on the left. 

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right 
hand, Come, ye blessed ' of my Father, inherit the 
kingdom d prepared c for you from the foundation of 
the world : 



r ch. 16 : 27; 19 : 28 ; Dan. 7 : 13; Zee. 14 : 5 ; Mark 8 : 38; Acts 1 : 11 ; 1 Tliess. 4 : 16; 2 Tliess. 1:7; Jude 14; Rev. 1 : 7....X Rom. 14 : 

10; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20 : 12. . . .y ch. 13 : 49 ; Ezek. 20 : 38 i Pa. 78 : 52; John 10 : 14, 27.... a Heb. 1:3 b Ps. 115 : 15....C Rom. 

8: 17 ; 1 Pet. 1:4... d 1 Thess. 2:1*; Rev. 5 : 10 el Cor. 2:9; Heb. 11 : 16. 



Ch. 25 : 31-46. THE LAST .JUDGMENT DESCRIBED.— 
There is no true piety without practical philan- 
thropy ; NO TRUE philanthropy without piety. 

These verses constitute a pictorial and dra- 
matic but not parabolic description of the last 
judgment. Nowhere else does Christ describe 
definitely that event. The passage clearly 
teaches the following great truths : (1) That 
there will be a final judgment ; (3) that it will 
come with the final appearing of our Lord at 
the end of the world ; (3) that it will consist, not 
of a trial, but of a public announcement of the 
divine judgment, founded upon the trial which 
life affords ; (4) that it will be public — before all 
nations and all angels, i. e., all created beings 
known to us to exist ; (5) that it will result in a 
public separation of all men into two distinct 
classes, not into a great variety of grades ; (6) that 
this separation will be based, not on our creeds, 
our forms and ceremonies, or our religious pro- 
fessions, but on our practical charity to our fel- 
low-men ; (7) that the decisions of this judgment 
will be final, unappealable, and irreversible. See 
notes below, both for elucidation of these lessons 
and consideration of others not so clear. On the 
general relation of this description to preceding 
parables, see Preliminary Note. 

31-33. When the Son of man shall come 
in his glory. Compare the language of de- 
scription in chap. 24 : 30, 31. The event de- 
scribed is apparently the same ; an incidental 
evidence that neither the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem nor a millennial coming prior to the last 
judgment is there described. — Then shall he 
sit — and before him shall be gathered. 
The language, when he shall come * * then he 
shall sit, points to a definite occasion of public 
judgment, at the second and public coming of 
Christ, but not necessarily a day in the limited 
sense of that term. True, " it is not implied that 
we shall all be gathered before him at one and the 
same moment " (J. H. Morison), but it is im- 
plied that it shall be a definite occasion, and when 
Christ comes in his glory (Matt. is-. 40 ; Acts H:.ii; 

Rom. 2 : 16 ; 1 Cor. 4 : 5). — All angels — all llUtlOllS. 

" How great publicity."— (Bengel.) The term all 
nations is limited by the millenarian commenta- 
tors to the heathen, or at least the non-believing 
world. See Preliminary Note to this chapter. 
It is certainly capable of this interpretation, 
since the term (id-roc) is most frequently used in 



the N. T. to signify the Gentiles in contradis- 
tinction to the Israelites, and is frequently ren- 
dered Gentiles (Acts 4 : 27), and sometimes heathen 
(Acts 4 : 25). But it is sometimes used distinct- 
ively Of the JeWS (Luke 7:5; John 11 : 48, 50 ; Acts 10 : 22), 

and sometimes includes them with the Gentiles 
(Matt. 28 : 19 ; Luke 24 : 47), aud it is therefore certainly 
capable of the meaning which our English ver- 
sion here gives to it. And this meaning appears 
better to accord with the description elsewhere 
given of the last judgment (Eccies. 12 : 14 ; 2 cor. 5 : 10 ; 
Rev. 20:12, 13). — He shall separate them one 
from another. Compare Ezek. 34 : 17. Ob- 
serve, the separation is not into a great variety 
of grades, which merge into one another ; it is 
into two well-defined classes. This description 
cannot be reconciled with the conception that 
the other world will be one simply of develop- 
ment, into which all men will enter at the stage 
of progress reached here, to pass by a process 
of education into the next higher class. There 
are but two classes, though there may be grades 
of character and condition in both. Observe, 
too, that there is a real separation between the 
righteous and the wicked on earth, but it is not 
made apparent till the judgment-day. Then the 
gulf between them is fixed forever (Matt. 13 : 37, 

note ; Luke 16 : 26). 

34. Then shall the King say. Christ is 
the King, whose kingdom shall be then mani- 
fested when he comes to judge the world (John 

6 : 27; Rom. 14:9; Rev. 19:6,7). — Come. We COme to 

Christ both for salvation here and for glory here- 
after ; we come that we may be with him where 
he is (John i4:3; 17:24). — Ye blessed of my 
Father. Not, Ye that are to be blessed, but Ye 
that have been blessed ; the perfect participle is 
used. They are blessed because all the fruits of 
true love which men apparently produce are really 
fruits of the Spirit (ica.iiiji John 4: 7, 12). — In- 
herit the kingdom prepared for you. The 
kingdom of which Christ is King, and which 
consists in righteousness, peace, and joy in the 
Holy Ghost (Rom. 14 : n). We enter it fully when 
we come where there is no more sin or tempta- 
tion (Rev. 21 : 27). We inherit it because it is God's 
free gift (Rom. 6 : 23), and is given only to those 
who, being born again, are the children, and 

therefore the heirs, Of God (John 3 : 3, 6 ; Rom. 8 : 16, 

17; Gal. 4:6, 7). — From the foundation of the 

world, i. e., so prepared in the councils of 



276 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXV. 



35 For I < was an hungred, and ye gave me meat : I 
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger ,s 
and ye took me in : 

36 Naked, 11 and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye 
visited ' me : 1 was in prison,J and ye came unto me. 

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, 
Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee ? 
or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? 



38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in ? 
or naked, and clothed thee ? 

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came 
unto thee? 

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, 
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch k as ye have done it 
unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
done it unto me. 



f Isa. 58: 1 ; Ezek. 18: 7.... g 1 Pet. 4 : 



3 John 5 h James 2 : 15, 16 i James 1 : 

19 : 17 ; Mark 9 ; 41 ; Heb. 6 : 10. 



.j 2 Tim. 1:16; Heb. 13 : 2. . . .k Prov. 



divine love ; not actually made ready, for Christ 
went that he might prepare a place for us (John 

14: 2). 

35, 36. For. These verses give the reason 
why those on the right hand are accepted. They 
are a N. T. exposition of Prov. 19 : 17, "He that 
hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord." 
Comp. 1 Tim. 6 : 17-19 ; 1 John 3 : 16-18 ; ch. 4, and 
Scripture references given below. And observe 
that every element in this description is illus- 
trated by Scripture. — I was a hungered and 
ye gave me to eat. See 1 Kings 17 : 10-15 ; 
Ruth 2 : 14-17. — Thirsty and ye gave me 
drink. Matt. 10 : 40-42.— I was a stranger 
and ye treated me hospitably. The word 
here rendered took in is the same rendered in Deut. 
22 : 2 and Josh. 2 : IS bring in, and in Judges 
19 : 15, 18, took in, and receive. For illustration 
of the spirit of hospitality see Numb. 10 : 29 with 

1 Sam. 15 : 6 ; 30 : 11, 12 ; Acts 28 : 1, 2.— Naked 
and ye clothed me. Acts 9 : 36-39.— I was 
sick and ye visited me, more literally, looked 
after me. For illustration see Luke 7 : 2, 3; 
10 : 30-37. — In prison and ye came to me. 
Jer. 38 : 7-13 ; 2 Tim. 1 : 16, 17. 

Respecting these verses observe (1) in Chry- 
sostom's language, " How easy are these injunc- 
tions. He said not, I was in prison and ye set me 
free ; I was sick and ye raised me up again ; but 
ye visited me and ye came unto me. " (2. ) No refer- 
ence is made to spiritual help. The case is one 
in which the less includes the greater, as the 
promise of reward to one who gives a cup of cold 
water, includes a promise for all larger service. 
Even the lowest forms of philanthropy, if they 
are the offspring of true love, have their reward. 
(3.) A real personal service is indicated, one in- 
volving some sacrifice of time and property. (4.) 
He that does these things has the spirit and 
follows the example of Christ, for we were 
hungry and he gives us to eat (John 6 : 32-35), thirsty 
and he gives us drink (john 4 : 14 ; 6 : 55, 56), strangers 
from the promise and he receives us to himself 
(Ephes. 2 : is, 19), naked and he clothes us (Rom. 13 : 14 ; 

2 Cor. 5:3; Gal. 3 : 27 ; Rev. 3 : 18), Sick and he Visits US 
With redeeming lOVe (Psalml47:3; Jer.3:22j Hoseal4:4; 

Luke i : 68, 78 ; Heb. 2 : 6), in prison and he comes to US, 
shares our prison fare, and so ransoms and de- 
livers US. (Rom. 8 : 2, 3 ; Heb. 2 : 9, 10.) 

37-39. Most of the commentators regard this 



as the language merely of humility. But igno- 
rance that whatever we have done for our fellow- 
men has been done in and for Christ is not 
Christian humility. It argues, on the contrary, 
a defective Christian experience. "Such an 
answer (as that here given) it would be impossi- 
ble for them to make, who had done all distinctly 
with reference to Christ, and for his sake, and 
with his declaration of chap. 10 : 40-42, before 
them." — (Alforcl.) Nor is it necessary to suppose, 
from this language, that only the heathen are 
represented as here in judgment ; though that 
they are included, and will be accepted if they 
have endeavored to live according to the law of 
God as interpreted by their conscience, is clearly 
declared by Paul in Rom. 2 : 7-11. The plain 
teaching of the passage is this, that not only 
th'ose who have in this life recognized Christ as 
their Lord and Master will be accepted by him, 
but also those who have never done so and yet 
have actually imbibed his spirit and followed his 
example, in the consecration of their lives to 
their fellow-men ; for they give thereby evidence 
that they are the children of God, born of the 
Spirit of God, blessed of the Father (verse 34, Dote), 
though the full disclosure of his grace they may 
not apprehend until they recognize their King 
in the day of judgment. With this accords a 
host of other passages of Scripture. Deut. 15 : 7 ; 
Job 29 : 13-16 ; 31 : 16-22 ; Psalm 112 : 9 ; Isaiah 
58 : 7-11 ; Ezek. 18 : 7, 16 ; Dan. 4 : 27 ; Luke 
11 : 41 ; Acts 10 : 31 ; Heb. 6 : 10 ; 13 : 16 ; James 
1 : 27 ; 1 John 2 : 10 ; 3 : 14 ; chap. 4. It does not 
conflict with the doctrine that no man can enter 
the kingdom of God unless he is born again ; but 
it recognizes love to man as the best outward 
evidence of the new birth (i John 4 : 7). It does not 
conflict with the doctrine that all men are saved 
by Christ ; but it recognizes the truth that they 
may be saved by a Redeemer whose redemption 
they did not understand. But observe, that "it 
is not the works, as such, but the love which 
prompted them, that love which was their faith 
— which felt its way, though in darkness to him 
who is love — which is commended " (Alford) ; 
and that when Christ is, in the day of his glory, 
fully disclosed to them, they recognize him as 
their Lord. 

40. Inasmuch as, i. e., just in so far as, 
ye have done it unto one of the least of 



Oh. XXV.] 



MATTHEW. 



277 



41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, 
Depart 1 from me, ye cursed, into everlasting m fire, 
prepared " for the devil and his angels : 

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat : 
I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : 

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, 
and ye clothed me not : sick and in prison, and ye 
visited me not. 



44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, 
when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stran- 
ger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minis- 
ter unto thee ? 

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say 
unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the 
least of these, ye did it not to me. 

46 And these p shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment : but the righteous into life eternal. 



1 Luke 13 : 27 mcl. 13 : 40,42 ; Rev. 14; 11.... n Jude 6 ; Rev. 20 : 10 o Zee. 2:8; Acts 0:5 p Dan. 12 : 2 ; John 



these my brethren. Primarily, his disciples 
(Matt. 12 .- so : Hebrews 2 : 11), but, secondarily, any one 
of the great family of man, Ye have done it 

unto me. "Let us then take heed not to neg- 
lect any, nor to apply ourselves out of natural 
inclination more to one than to another, but to 
those whom either the Providence of God sends 
us, or in their necessity obliges us to prefer." — 
(Quesnel.) 

41. Depart from me. As the reward of 
the saints is to be forever with the Lord (iThess. 
4 : 17), so the punishment of the wicked is ever- 
lasting exile from his presence (2Thess. 1 : 9). The 
language is that of intense moral aversion ; and 
it implies the hopelessness of the doom. For 
how can the sinner without God, redeem himself 
from his sin ? (John 15 : 5) — Ye accursed. Under 
the Jewish law persons or things might be 
devoted to Jehovah, by vow, in which case they 
became his irrevocably, and could not be re- 
deemed. Cattle were put to death (Lev. 27 : 26-29). 
Out of this custom grew the devotion to death, as 
a punishment, of an individual (Kxod. 22 : 20), or an 

idolatrOUS City (Deut. 13 : 12, etc. ; comp. Deut. 2 : 34, etc. ; 3 : 6 ; 
Josh. 6 : 17, etc. ; 10 : 28, etc. ; 11 : ll). Such pei'SOnS Or things 

were pronounced accursed. The reference here is 
to this Jewish custom. Those on the left of the 
judge are metaphorically described as devoted to 
death., and beyond the hope of redemption. — Into 
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and 
his angels. Fire may be a symbol of purifica- 
tion, which it certainly is not here, or of destruc- 
tion, or of torment. The language here conveys 
apparently the latter shade of meaning. Comp. 
Kev. 19 : 20 ; 30 : 10. Observe the implication of 
the personality of the devil. How could a Are 
be prepared for abstract evil, or for the sinful 
propensities of the heart ? Contrast this verse 
with verse 34. Come — depart ; Blessed — cursed ; 
the kingdom — everlasting fire. Observe, too, 
another and important contrast. "Blessed of 
my Father: but not Cursed of my Father, be- 
cause all man's salvation is of God, all his con- 
demnation from himself. The kingdom prepared 
for you, but the fire which has been prepared for 
the devil and his angels, not for you ; because there 
is election to life, but there is no reprobation to 
death ; a book of life, but no book of death ; no 
hell for man because the blood of Jesus has pur- 
chased life for all ; but they who will serve the 



devil must share with him in the end." — (Alford. ) 
On the word everlasting, see note at close of 
chapter, verse 46. 

42-45. Observe there is here no charge of 
positive oppression, only of neglect. Comp. 
Luke 10 : 19-25. But, as in verses 37-39, the less 
includes the greater. "How severely shall they 
be punished who take away the goods of others, 
when those are punished after this manner, who 
only refuse to give what is their own." — (Quesnel. ) 
Observe, too, the significance of their ignorance, 
which is real, not pretended. They were uncon- 
scious that their inhumanity was also impiety. 
They would have shown honor to the king if they 
had recognized him ; but he measures their char- 
acter by their treatment of his subjects. 

46. And these shall go away into ever- 
lasting punishment : but the righteous 
unto life everlasting. On this verse volumes 
have been written, and on its interpretation the 
best scholars are not fully agreed. Referring 
the student to larger treatises for an investiga- 
tion of verbal criticism, it must suffice here to 
say, (1.) That the same Greek word is used in 
both clauses of the sentence, rendered in the one 
"eternal," in the other "everlasting," and that, 
therefore, presumptively, the punishment threat- 
ened is as lasting as the lif e promised. (2. ) That 
the etymology of the word here rendered ever- 
lasting is in dispute ; some scholars find its ori- 
gin in two Greek words (uei ujv, uleir), ever being, 
in which case our word everlasting is an almost 
literal translation : others trace its etymology to 
a word (wo) signifying to breathe, and so find its 
equivalent to be primarily a life, a generation, 
hence an age or cycle of years. The former ety- 
mology is adopted by the majority of modem 
scholars. (3.) The word certainly does not always 
signify in the Scripture eternity. Of its applica- 
tion to a period of time which was really limited 
the following passages from the O. T. (Septua- 
gint) are illustrations : Gen. 17 : 8 ; 48 : 4 ; Lev. 
16 : 34 ; Numb. 25 : 13 ; Hab. 3:6. In the N. T. 
it is used also of time limited, in Rom. 16 : 25 ; 
2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1 : 2, where the phrase since 
or before the world began would be literally since or 
before the time ages, i. e., the beginning of the 
cycle of time ; see also Philemon 15, Thou 
shouldest receive him, i. e., the fugitive Onesi- 
mus, forever, though here the idea of receiving 




The accompanying map presents the supposed sites in 
the city of Jerusalem. They are, however, largely hy- 
pothetical. The city is built on two hills, environed 
on either side by valleys, that of the Tlinnom and that 
of the Kedron ; a third valley, that of the Cheesemon- 
gers, penetrates the heart of the city, dividing it into 
two parts. This valley is now largely filled up with 
debris, produced by the frequent sieges to which the 
city has been subject. It is reasonably certain that the 
ancient Temple stood where the Mosque of Omar now 
stands, i. e., on the eastern hill, known in Scripture as 
Mount Moriah, and the palace of Herod on the oppo- 
site hill, Mount Zion. Across the valley of Jehosba- 
phat, over against Jerusalem, is the Mount of Olives. 
Somewhere in that valley, or on the western slope of 
that mount, was the garden of Gethsemane. Over the 



mountain, about two miles away, was Bethany, the 
house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Christ, with his 
disciples, coming from Jericho, by the road marked on 
this map. entered Jerusalem in triumph on Saturday 
(eh. 51 : 6-11) by one of the eastern gates ; every night he 
retreated from the city to Bethany, or perhaps to soli- 
tude on the Mount of Olives ; and from this mountain 
he overlooked the city with his disciples at the time of 
the prophecy contained in Matt., ch. 24 (see ver. 3). The 
other localities of the Passion Week are quite uncertain. 
I believe, however, that the trial before the Sanhedrim 
took place in or adjoining theTemple (Luke 2-2 : 66, note), and 
the trial before Pilate at the Tower of Antonia (Jolm 18 : 
28, note). The place of execution and burial is unknown ; 
it is hardly possible that it can be the traditional site, 
which is indicated on this map. See Matt. 27 : 33, note. 



Oh. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



279 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

AND it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all 
these sayings, he said unto his disciples, 
2 Ye know ' that after two days is the feast of the 

Eassover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be cruci- 
ed. 



3 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the 
scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace 
of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, 

4 And consulted' that they might take Jesus by 
subtilty, and kill him. 

5 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be 
an uproar among the people. 



q Mark 14 : I, etc. ; Luke 22 : 1, etc. ; John 13 : 1, etc. . . . r Psalm 2 : 2. 



the slave in a Christian covenant and fellowship, 
to be literally ever-during, may be embodied. 
Of the other 66 times in which the word occurs 
in the N. T., it is 51 times used in describing the 
blessedness of the saints, 3 times is applied to 
the Gospel, 3 times to God or his attributes, 3 

times (2 Cor. 4 : 18 ; 2 Thess. 2 : 16; Heb. 6 : 2), Where the 

word everlasting unquestionably correctly repre- 
sents it, and 6 times it is applied to future pun- 
ishment. Thus it will be seen that the ordinary 
usage of the N. T. justifies the translation here, 
everlasting, (4.) In all Scripture usage, I think 
without exception, the word indicates a period 
of time as long as the existence of the object spoken 
of. The Jewish nation, as long as it preserved 
its organic existence, possessed the Holy Land, 
and the priesthood service (Gen. 17 : 8 ; Lev. ie : 34). 
So the Gospel was a mystery from the beginning 
of the world's existence (2 Tim. 1:9). If this be 
true, then whenever this word is predicated of 
the soul's condition it signifies one, whether of 
life or of death, of blessedness or of punishment, 
as lasting as the soul. (5.) There is nothing in 
this verse to indicate the nature of the punish- 
ment threatened. The question whether it con- 
sists in ever-during life in suffering, or real soul- 
destruction, must be solved, if at all, by reference 
to other Scripture. The phrase everlasting pun- 
ishment implies that the result, not the punish- 
ment, will be everlasting, as the phrase eternal 
judgment (Heb. 6 : 2) signifies not a judgment 
lasting eternally, but one having eternal results. 
(6.) The reward promised is life eternal, and this 
signifies not merely existence, which might or 
might not be a boon, but the highest and noblest 
activity of the soul, in all its God-given powers, 
and this eternal, i. e., with no fear of decadence, 
infirmity, or lapse into sin. 



CI). 20 ! 1-16. PREPARATION FORTHE CRUCIFIXION — 
In the hearts op the disciples ; by the enemies 
of Christ ; by the unconscious prophecy op love's 
offering ; by the treachery op an apostle. — 
Though forewarned op sorrow, we are not al- 
ways forearmed against it (ver. 1, 2, with Luke 
21 : 21, 26).— Men love darkness rather than 
light, because their deeds are evil (ver. 3-5 ; 
comp. John 3 : 19, 20). — The true disciple rarely 
knows the true value or meaning of his own life 
(ver. 6-13).— Christ could never be crucified by 

THE WORLD BUT FOR TREACHERY IN HIS OWN CHURCH 

(ver. 14-16). 



In these verses Matthew groups several inci- 
dents that point to the crucifixion. They are 
four in number : (1) verses 1, 2, Christ's proph- 
ecy of the crucifixion ; (2) verses 3-5, the con- 
spiracy of the Jewish authorities ; (3) verses 
6-13, Mary's unconscious preparation for the 
Lord's burial by anointing him ; (4) verses 14-16, 
Judas' agreement to betray his Lord. Whether 
these events occurred in the order here narrated 
is uncertain. See note on verses 6-16 below. 
From this point the passion of our Lord properly 
begins. His mission as a prophet merges in his 
mission as a sacrifice ; his words are pregnant to 
the last, as his soul has suffered from the begin- 
ning. But it is as the Sufferer rather than as 
the Teacher he appears in the remaining scenes 
of his life. 

1,2. When Jesus had finished all these 
sayings. The discourse contained in chapter 
23 was the last delivered by Christ in public. 
That contained in chapters 24 and 25, and those 
reported by John in chapters 14-16, were deliv- 
ered only to the apostles, the former, perhaps, 
to but four of them (Marki3 : 3). — Ye know. Be- 
cause he had previously foretold his passion. — 
After two days is the Passover, and the 
Son of man is betrayed (the present tense, 
with a future force ; see Mark 9 : 31, note) to be 
crucified. Whether the Jewish Passover took 
place on Thursday, on the evening of which the 
Lord's Supper was instituted, or on Friday, the 
day on which our Lord was crucified, is confess- 
edly one of the most difficult questions in N. T. 
chronology. So far as this verse affords a note 
of time at all, it appears to me to sustain the 
former view. If this prophecy was spoken im- 
mediately at the close of the discourse reported 
in chapters 24 and 25, i. e., on Tuesday evening, 
the Passover Supper would come on Thursday 
evening. Alford thinks, on the contrary, that 
this is a solemn declaration that " the deliverance 
of our Lord to be crucified and the taking place 
of the Passover strictly coincided," because 
Christ says, "After two days is the Passover, 
and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified." 
But he apparently forgets that the betrayal took 
place on the evening of the day preceding the 
crucifixion ; so that if the betrayal and the Pass- 
over coincided, the Passover and the Lord's 
Supper also coincided. See on the whole ques- 
tion, Note on the Lord's Supper, below. 



280 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVI. 



6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of 
Simon the leper, 

7 There came 8 unto him a woman having an alabas- 
ter box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his 
head, as he sat at meat. 



8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indigna- 
tion, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 

9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, 
and given to the poor. 



e John 11:1,2; 12:3. 



3-5. Then assembled together the chief 
priests, etc. That is, the Sanhedrim (Matt. 2 : 4, 
and note). Presumptively this conference was held 
on Tuesday night, at the close of Christ's public 
denunciation of the Jewish leaders (chapter 23). — 
The high priest, called Caiaphas. The 
high priest was originally the highest religious 
officer in the land, and held office for life ; but 
at this time was appointed and removed by the 
Roman government at will, so that in 107 years 
the office had been filled with 27 appointees. 
He was the head of the Sanhedrim, and exer- 
cised some political and judicial as well as eccle- 
siastical functions. Caiaphas was a son-in-law 
of Annas (John 18 : 13), with whom he seems to have 
in some way shared the duties of the office (Luke 
3 : 2 and note). His character, as a wily and unscru- 
pulous politician, is indicated by his counsel re- 
specting Jesus (John n :. 49-51), and by his conduct 
during the subsequent trial of Jesus (Matt. 26 : 57-65, 
notes). Peter was at a later period brought before 
him and Annas (Acts 4 : 6). He was appointed high 
priest 27 a. d., and was removed 36 or 37 a. d. 
Nothing is known of his history subsequent to 
his deposition. 

5. But they said, Not during the feast. 
Not merely the feast-day, i. e., the day on which 
the Passover was sacrificed and eaten, but at any 
time during the festal season, which lasted for 
seven days. On these occasions Jerusalem was 
thronged with pilgrims. Christ was popular 
with the Galileans, and the leaders feared an 
attempt by them at resistance. Perhaps such an 
attempt would have been made, but for the fact 
that Christ discountenanced it (verses 52-54). 

6-16. The anointing of Jesus by Mart, 
and the subsequent treachery of judas. — 
This anointing is also described by Mark (14 : 3-10) 
and John (12 : 2-8). For general exposition see 
notes on John 12 : 1-8. From his account it ap- 
pears to have taken place at the house of Laza- 
rus and his sisters Mary and Martha, and to have 
been performed by Mary, who poured the oint- 
ment on Christ's feet as well as on his head. It 
is not to be confounded with the anointing men- 
tioned in Luke 7 : 36-50, though this has been 
done. There is nothing in common between 
them, except the name of the householder, Si- 
mon (Luke 7 : 40) ; and this was a very common 
name in Palestine. The occasion, the time, the 
parties, and the spiritual significance, are all dif- 
ferent. The repetition of the incident is not at 
all strange. "An act of this kind, which had 



been once commended by our Lord (as in Luke), 
was very likely to have been repeated, and espe- 
cially at such a time as six (?) days before the 
Last Passover, and by one anointing him for his 
burial." — (Alford.) The time when this anoint- 
ing here described took place is uncertain. 
John's account apparently indicates six days 
before the Passover, i. e., probably Friday pre- 
ceding the crucifixion. And this is the view of 
Townsend, Andrews, Alford, J. H. Morison, and 
others. These writers suppose that Matthew 
inserts the account out of its chronological 
order, because Judas Iscariot's treachery is 
closely connected with his complaint of Mary's 
extravagance, and Christ's rebuke of him (john 
12 : 4, 7). Matthew and Mark apparently indicate 
two days before the Passover, i. e., on the Tues- 
day night preceding the crucifixion. This is the 
view of Robinson, Geo. W. Clark, and Dr. Hack- 
ett (Smith's Bib. Diet., vol. ii., p. 1372, note). 
This view appears to me the more probable one, 
for, (1) the note of time is not definite or con- 
clusive in either of the Evangelists ; (2) the 
immediate occasion of Judas's treachery seems 
to have been the rebuke administered at this 

Supper (comp. verse 14 here with John 12 : 4, 7) ; (3) if his 

plan was formed four days before, why was it 
not earlier executed? (4) the discourses of 
Christ's prophesying the overthrow of Judaism, 
his own crucifixion, and a long period of trial 
preceding his second coming (chap. 24), might well 
prepare the mind of Judas, if his adhesion to 
Christ was largely induced by earthly ambition, 
for the temptation of avarice and ambition, com- 
bined with resentment. But without some pre- 
vious disappointment and bitterness of soul, 
such as would be produced by the final over- 
throw of all his hopes of preferment, it is difficult 
to understand how he should have been incited 
to his treachery. 

6, 7. Bethany. A village about two miles 
east of Jerusalem (John 11 : is), being on the other 
side of the Mount of Olives. See map, p. 238. It was 
the home of Mary and Martha, where Christ was 
wont to visit when in Jerusalem (Luke io:38-H; 
Matt. 21: 17; Mark 11 : n,i2). It was the scene of the res- 
urrection of Lazarus (John, ch. n), and of Christ's 
own ascension (Luke 24 : 50). It is not mentioned 
in the O. T. — Simon the leper. Nothing is 
known of him. Whether the father, or the hus- 
band of one of the sisters, or a more distant rela- 
tive, is merely matter of conjecture. He is not 
mentioned in the other incidents referring to 



Ch. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



281 



10 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, 
Why trouble ye the woman ? for she hath wrought a 
good work upon me. 

ii For ye l have the poor always with you ; but me" 
ye have not always. 

12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my 
body, she did it for my burial. 

13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel 
shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also 



this, that this woman hath done, be to'd for a memorial 
of her. 

14 Then one' of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, 
went unto the chief priests, 

15 And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I 
will deliver him unto you ? And they covenanted w 
with him for thirty pieces of silver. 

16 And from that time he sought opportunity to 
betray him. 



t Dent. 15 i 11 u John 14 : 19 ; 17 : 11 v ch. 10 ; 4 w ch. 27 : 3 ; Zech. 11 : 12, 13. 



this family ; hence the surmise that he was dead. 
He could not at this time have been a leper, and 
living in the house, for in that case he could not 
have received guests. — A woman. Mary, the 
sister of Martha and Lazarus (John 12 : 3). 

8, 9. His disciples. The complaint ap- 
pears to have originated with Judas (John 12 : 4), 
but may have been caught up and echoed by the 
others. — For much. John and Mark specify 
the cost, 300 pence (denarii), equal to $54, but 
equivalent to nearly a year's wages of an ordi- 
nary laboring man (Matt. 20 : 2, note). 

11. Ye have the poor always with you. 
Mark adds significantly : "Whensoever ye will, 
ye may do them good. ' ' 

13. The promise of this verse is given by Mark, 
but not by John. On it Alford well remarks, 
"This announcement is a distinct prophetic re- 
cognition by our Lord, of the existence of written 
records, in which the deed should be related ; for 
in no other conceivable way could the universality 
of mention be brought about." 

14-1G. Judas Iscariot, i. e., probably Judas 
of Kerioth, a town of Judea (josh. 15 : 25). On his 
character and the explanation of his treachery, 
see notes on chap. 27 : 3-10. — Chief priests, 
i. e., heads of the priestly courses. Matt. 2 : 4, 
note. — Thirty pieces of silver, i. e., thirty 
shekels, equal to about eighteen dollars. It was 




A SHEKEL. 

the sum fixed to be paid in case of the killing of 

a Slave by an OX (Exod. 21 : 32. Comp. Lev. 27 : 3). The 

exact sum to be paid for Christ's betrayal was a 
subject of prophecy (zech. 11 : 12, 13). The smallness 
of the sum forbids the idea that Judas was in- 
cited only by avarice, unless the thirty shekels 
be regarded merely as earnest money ; and this 
hypothesis appears untenable, for no more ap- 
pears to have been paid to him. The language 
in Zechariah and in Matt. 27 : 3, indicate that 
the thirty shekels was the price paid, not an 



earnest to bind the bargain. Whether the priests 
actually paid him the money at this time, or only 
agreed to pay it, is not clear from the original, 
which is literally, They placed to him. thirty shekels. 
This may mean that they actually delivered it to 
him, as is indicated by Zechariah, or that they 
put it to his credit, on condition of his fulfillment 
of his promise. The latter agrees better with the 
accounts in Mark (14 : 11) and Luke (22 : s). In 
the latter passage the word rendered covenanted 
is different from that employed here, and signi- 
fies a covenant or agreement. 

Ch. 26 : 17-25. PREPARATIONS FOR THE LAST 
PASSOVER. 

Of the institution of the Lord's Supper, and 
the concurrent events, we have four accounts, 
Viz., Matt. 26 : 16-30; Mark 14 : 12-25; Luke 
22 : 7-30, and 1 Cor. 11 : 23-25. John gives no 
account of the Lord's Supper, but is the only one 
who reports the contemporaneous feet-washing, 
and the discourses of Jesus in connection with 
the Supper. That he omits all mention of the 
Supper, and reports what the other Evangelists 
do not mention, is an incidental indication that 
he wrote with the other histories before him, and 
in part for the sake of supplying what they 
omitted. A harmonized narrative of the four 
Gospels is confessedly difficult, Alford thinks 
"impossible." It is at best but hypothetical. 
The most probable hypothesis combines these 
accounts as follows : Christ gives two of his 
disciples directions as to the preparation of the 
Passover supper for himself and the twelve (Mark 

14:12-16; and Lnke 22 : 7-13, notes) ; when the even is 

come he goes with the twelve to the place pre- 
pared for them, where an unseemly strife occurs 
| as to which shall be greatest (Luke 22: 24-30, notes) ; 
this Christ rebukes by washing the feet of the 
disciples (John 13 : 1-20, notes) ; all then take their 
places at the table (Matt. 26 : 20) ; Christ prophecies 

his betrayal (Matt. 26 : 21-25 ; Mark 14 : 18-21 ; Luke 22 : 21-23 ; 

John 13 : 21-26, notes) ; Judas learning that his treach- 
ery is known, goes out to complete it (John 13 : 27-30, 
notes). The Supper, which has been interrupted 
by this incident, now goes on and ends with 
the institution of the Lord's Supper at the close 

Of the PaSSOVer feast (Matt. 26 : 26-29, notes ; Mark 14 : 
22-25 ; Luke 22 : 19, 20 ; 1 Cor. 11 : 23-25). After, Or during, 

this meal Christ gives his disciples the instruc- 



282 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVI. 



17 Now 1 the first day of the feast of unleavened 
bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, 
Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the 
passover? 

18 And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and 
say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand ; 
1 will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples. 

19 And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed 
them ; and they made ready the passover. 



20 Now when the even was come, he sat down with 
the twelve. 

21 And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto 
you, that one of you shall betray me. 

22 And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began 
every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it 1 ? 

23 And he answered and said, Hey that dippeth his 
hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 



x Exod. 12 : 6, 18 y Ps. 41 : 9 ; 55 : 12, 13. 



tions and utters for them the prayer recorded in 
John, chaps. 14-17 inclusive. 

17. Now the first of the unleavened 
bread. That is, the first day, viz. Thursday the 
14th day of Nisan. The feast of the unleavened 
bread, or the Passover, properly began on the 15th 
of Abib or Nisan, and lasted seven days. But the 
preceding day, the 14th, was the one appointed for 
the slaying of the lamb, and on the evening of that 
day the paschal supper was eaten (Exod. 12 : 6 ; Lev. 
23 : 5). It was, therefore, termed the first day of 
the feast. See note on Lord's Supper below, § 1. 
— The disciples came to Jesus. The move- 
ment for the observance of the Passover originat- 
ed, therefore, with them. The directions were 
given to two of them only, Peter and John (Luke 22 : 7 
-13). — Where wilt thou that we prepare the 
Passover ? The Scripture directions for the 
preparation of the Passover are contained in 
Exod. 12 : 1-11, 14-20, but are modified by Deut. 




16 : 5, 6. The guest-chamber was already pre- 
pared (Mark 14 : 15), and the lamb had probably 
been previously selected for the sacrifice (Exod. 
12 : 10). The other preparations would consist 
of making ready the unleavened bread, the bitter 
herbs, etc. Jewish custom required that the 
Passover be celebrated, if not within the city 
walls, at least within the distance of a Sabbath 
day's journey, i. e., about three-quarters of a 
mile. 

18, 19. The account of this direction and the 
apostle's compliance is not found in John. It is 



fuller in Mark (14 : 12-16) and Luke (22 : 7-13). See 
notes on Luke.— My time is at hand. Peculiar 
to Matthew. Its meaning can hardly be other 
than, The time for my passion and death (joim 7 : 6). 
HO. When even was come. The lamb 
must be killed " in the evening " (Exod. 12 : 6), or, as 
it is rendered in the margin in Exodus, " between 
the two evenings," a phrase interpreted by the 
rabbis as equivalent to between the declining and 
the setting sun, i. e., between 3 p. m. and 5 p. m., or 
between sunset and deep twilight. The former 
was the more general view. Deut. 16 : 6 specifies 
more accurately, " about the going down of the 
sun." The paschal supper followed, on the same 
night (Exod. 12:8). — He sat down with the 
twelve. Literally, Reclined with the twelve. The 
supper appears to have been originally taken 
standing (Exod. 12 : 11) ; but whether the direction 
so to take it was intended except for the Israelites 
at the time of the exodus, is uncertain. It was 
not observed in Christ's 
time. The reclining pos- 
ture had been borrowed 
from other nations long 
prior (Amos 6 : 4), probably 
from the Babylonians and 

Syrians (Esther 1 : 5, 6 ; 7 : 8). In 

taking their places in the 
manner indicated in the 
annexed cut, John reclined 
next to Christ on one side ; 
thus he might easily rest 
his head on the Master's 
bosom (joim 13 : 25). Judas 
sat near Christ, probably 
on the other side, for 
Christ reached to him a 

SOp Or morsel (John 13 : 26). 

Observe that only the twelve participated with 
Christ in this supper. The proprietor of the 
house was probably at the same time partaking 
the Passover in another room with his own family. 
On Passover week every Jew in Jerusalem ex- 
tended the hospitality of his house to pious 
strangers. Our Lord and the twelve were a full 
paschal company ; ten persons were the mini- 
mum number. Luke (22 : 24-30,notes) gives an ac- 
count of a strife among the disciples which 
should be greatest, probably a contention which 
should have the places of honor at the table, in 



Ch. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



283 



24 The Son of man goeth as it is written 2 of him : 
but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is be- 
trayed ! it had been good for that man if he had not 
been born. 



25 Then Judas, which betrayed h'm, answered and 
said, Master, is it I ? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 

26 And as a they were eating, Jesus took bread, and 
blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, 
and said, Take, eat ; this is my body. 



z Ps. 22 : 1, etc. ; Isa. 53 : S, etc. ... a 1 Cor. 11 : 23, etc. 



which case it doubtless preceded the supper, and 
was followed by Christ's washing of the disciples' 
feet (John 13 : 1-20, notes) in rebuke of their contention. 
21-25. An account of Christ's prophecy of 
his betrayal is given by all the Evangelists, but 
most fully by John 13 : 21-25 ; see notes there. 

22. Unto him. Not merely, as Alford, To 
each other. They both inquired among them- 
selves (Luke 22 : 23), and of Christ.— Lord, is it I ? 
Their language expresses in the original a much 
stronger negation than in our version. Surely 
not I, Lord? Compare their strong assertion 
that they will not deny him (ver. 35). To their 
questioning Christ makes no response. John 
then asks more quietly, Who is it ? (John 13 : 23-25). 

23. This answer, apparently given only to 
John (jotn 13 •. 25, 26), does not designate the be- 
trayer to the disciples. According to the Jewish 
ritual the administrator in the course of the 
supper dipped the bitter herbs in a prepared 
sauce, and passed the dish to the rest. This 
Christ now did. His reply to the question of 
John was simply an emphatic reiteration of his 
previous declaration (joim 13 : is), " He that eateth 
bread with me hath lifted up his heel against 
me." That it did not designate the traitor to 
any of the disciples is clear from John 13 : 28 ; 
Judas alone perceived that his treachery was 
known to Christ. 

24. This verse is not found in John. In 
slightly different forms it appears in Mark and 
Luke. Compare with it Acts 2 : 23, and Matt. 
18 : 7, note. Observe the incidental confirmation 
of the doctrine elsewhere taught, that for the 
finally lost soul there is no redemption. It could 
not with truth be said of one, It had been good 
for that man if he had not been born, if the tem- 
porary punishment of his sin was to be followed 
by his final redemption, and his glorious realiza- 
tion, at last, of the image of God. 

25. Alford supposes that these words, which 
are peculiar to Matthew, are "an imperfect re- 
port of what really happened, viz., that the 
Lord dipped the sop and gave to Judas, thereby 
answering the general doubt, in which the trai- 
tor had impudently presumed to feign a share." 
I should rather think that Judas, thunderstruck 
by the sudden unveiling of his secret purpose, 
was at first silent ; that when he recovered him- 
self he sought to hide his confusion by repeating 
the question, or rather denial, of the other disci- 
ples, and that, in the intense excitement of the 
scene, they neither noticed his question nor 



Christ's reply. Jesus added, "That thou doest 
do quickly," on which Judas left the room. 
That he way not present during the institution 
of the Lord's Supper appears to me, from a 
comparison of the narratives, to be the most 
probable hypothesis ; but John, who alone men- 
tions that Judas left the room, says nothing 
whatever concerning the institution of the Lord's 
Supper. — Thou hast said. A form of affirm- 
ative, equivalent to Thou hast said correctly. 
Compare_chap. 27 : U and Exod. 10 : 29. The 
spirit and aim of this disclosure is thus well 
hinted at by Chrysostom : " He said not, Such 
an one shall betray me ; but ' one of you, ' so as 
again to give him power of repentance by con- 
cealment. And he chooseth to alarm all for the 
sake of serving this man." Christ's tender treat- 
ment of Judas, throughout, is one of the most 
touching and significant facts in his life. Was it 
not also in part his purpose to drive the traitor 
from the room ? Not until after Judas departs 
does Jesus open his heart to the disciples in the 
discourse preserved by John. 

Ch.26 : 26-30, THE LORD'S SUPPER,— A memorial, 
a parable, and a prophecy. — it is a memorial op 
Christ as a gift, and Christ as a sacrifice.— It is 
a parable of the true nature op christianity 
Christ in us.— It is a prophecy op future glory 
perfect communion with Christ, perfect commu 
nion of Saints. See note on Lord's Supper below. 

Preliminary Note. The account of the insti 
tution of the Lord's Supper does not differ mate- 
rially in the three Synoptics, Matthew, Mark 
14 : 22-25, Luke 22 : 14-20, and in 1 Cor. 11 : 
23-25. Luke, however, mentions a cup before 
the supper, which is not mentioned by the other 
Evangelists (Luke 22 : n). The Kabbinical books 
give detailed instructions for the observance of 
the feast of the Passover. It is very doubtful 
whether the ritual therein prescribed was ob- 
served in Christ's time. But the following gen- 
eral rules respecting the Passover throw some 
light on Christ's administration of the supper 
described by Paul and the Evangelists. No 
uncircumcised male (Exod. 12 : 48) was admitted. 
Women partook of the feast. Usually not less 
than ten nor more than twenty sat down to the 
table. The father or head of the family acted as 
master of the feast. The guests reclined at the 
table (verse 20, note). The supper was commenced 
with a blessing asked by the head of the family ; 
he next passed a cup of wine, referred to in 
Luke 22 : 17, and the bitter herbs (Exod. 12 : s), 



284 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVI. 



which were eaten either with or without being 
dipped in the prepared sauce. This was the sop 
referred to in John 13 : 26. Then the unleavened 
bread was passed, whereupon one of the chil- 
dren asked the meaning of the ceremonial ; this 
was explained by the father in accordance with 
Exod. 12 : 26, 27. It was at this distribution of 
the bread that Christ imparted a new signifi- 
cance to the Passover, by departing from the 
original and Jewish ritual, and declaring that 
the bread was henceforth a memorial of his 
death, not of the Jewish national deliverance 
(Matt. 26 : 26). A psalm was then sung — Psalms 113, 
114 — and the lamb was carved and eaten. This 
was followed by a third and fourth cup of wine, 
or wine and water, and one or the other of 
these was the cup which Christ blessed and de- 
clared to be a symbol of his blood (see ver. 27). 
The supper was then closed by chanting Psalms 
115-118, the hymn mentioned here in verse 30. 

26. As they were eating. Compare Mark 
14 : 22. This clearly indicates that the Lord's 
Supper was instituted during the progress of the 
Paschal Supper, not as a separate ordinance at its 
close. See note on the Lord's Supper below. 
Nor is it inconsistent with the statement in Luke 
22 : 20, 1 Cor. 11 : 25, that he took the cup " after 
supper," for the third and fourth cup of the 
Passover were taken at the close of supper, and 
this language merely distinguishes the cup here 
mentioned from the one with which the supper 
began, which is mentioned only by Luke (22 : n). 
— And blessed. Some manuscripts have here 
"Gave thanks." But the reading of the Re- 
ceived Text is preferable. This blessing of the 
bread would include giving thanks, but it would 
also embrace the invocation of the divine bless- 
ing upon the bread. Comp. 1 Sam. 9 : 13. The 
language is precisely the same as that used in 
Matt. 14 : 19, Mark 6 : 41, and there is as litlte 
reason for supposing that it involves a mystical 
charge in the one case as in the other, that is, no 
reason at all. It was customary for the father 
at the distribution of the bread to pronounce the 
benediction, " Blessed be he who eauseth bread 
to grow out of the earth." But, says Grotius, 
"not so much for the old creation, rather for the 
new, for which he came into this world, he pours 
out prayer and renders thanks to God for the 
redemption of the human race, as though it were 
already t accomplished." — And brake. The 
bread that was broken was a round cake or 
cracker of unleavened bread. See Mark 8 : 6 
for illustration. Throughout the entire Passover 
week no leavened bread was allowed in the house 
(Exod. 12:8, 15). The administration of the Lord's 
Supper was subsequently termed the "breaking 
of bread " (Acta 2 : 42; i Cor. io : 16). In the breaking 
and distribution of bread to others is there not 
symbolized, not only our covenant and commu- 



nion with Christ, but also our duty of breaking 
and distribution to others what we receive from 
him ? Is there not also significance in the fact 
that he passed by the lamb, which in the future 
history of the church it would often be incon- 
venient and sometimes impossible to provide, and 
took, as the symbol of his body, bread, which can 
always be obtained ? 

Take, eat ; this is my body. Luke adds, 
" which is given for you " (22 : 19) ; Paul, "which 
is broken for you" (1 cor. 11 : 24) ; and both add, 
"This do in remembrance of me." The bread, 
then, is (1) a symbolic reminder that Christ is 

God's Unspeakable gift to US (John 3: 16; 2 Cor. 9:15); 

(2) that the gift is perfected only in that he is 
broken for us (John 3 : 14 ; 10 : 15 j 12 : 32) ; (3) that it is 
efficacious only as we partake of him, i. e., re- 
ceive him into ourselves, so that he becomes one 
with us, as he is one with the Father (John lr : 2s), 
as the bread when eaten becomes part of our 
nature, and so the sustainer of our life. Con- 
cerning the proper interpretation of Christ's 
declaration, " This is my body," from which the 
Romanists deduce the doctrine of transubstan- 
tiation, it must suffice here to note briefly, (1) 
that it is incredible that the apostles, with their 
Lord sitting before them in bodily form, should 
have understood Christ to mean literally that the 
bread was his body ; and we are to understand 
Christ as they would have understood him ; (2) 
that his language here closely conforms to that 
of the Jewish ritual. When the lamb was passed 
the master was asked by one of the children, 
" What is this ? " and the father replied, "This 
is the body of the lamb which our fathers ate in 
Egypt." Christ uses, but modifies, the same 
formula. Does any one suppose the lamb slain 
in Egypt was miraculously multiplied through 
all the subsequent ages ? (3) that Christ, in the 
fuller discourse reported in John, chap. 6, which 
is a prophetic interpretation of this supper, care- 
fully guards his disciples against the literalism 
into which the Romish church has fallen. In 
verse 63 he distinctly declares, "The flesh profit- 
eth nothing," and gives the explanation that the 
spirit, received by receiving his words, can alone 
impart life ; (4) that the same literalism would 
make havoc of the symbolism of both the O. T. 
and the N. T. Let the student consider the 
effect of its application, for example, to the fol- 
lowing passages : Gen. 15 : 1 ; Psalm 31 : 3 ; 84 : 
11 ; John 10 : 7, 11 ; 1 Cor. 10 : 4. The sacred 
writers commonly employ the verb "to be" as 
equivalent to the verb "to represent;" e. g., 
" The three branches are three days " (Gen. 40 : 12, 
is) ; "These bones are the whole house of Israel " 
(Ezek. 37 : 11) ; "The field is the world, the good 
seed are the children of the kingdom, the tares 
are the children of the wicked one " (Matt. 13 : 38) ; 
"The seven stars are the angels, the seven candle- 



Ch. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



285 



27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave 
it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it : 

28 For this is my blood of the new testament," 
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 



29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth 
of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it 
new with you in my Father's kingdom. 

30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went 
out into the Mount of Olives. 



b Jer. 31 : 31. ... c Isa. 25 : 6. 



sticks are the seven churches " (Rev. 1 : 20). The 
key-note to the interpretation of the supper and 
Christ's language respecting it is well given by 
James Morison : " The supper is a parable to 
the eye, the touch, the taste." See below, note 
on the Lord's Supper, § 4. 

Whether Christ ate of the bread and drank of 
the wine has been a matter of some discussion. 
There is no clear answer to the question in the 
account. Chrysostom apparently thinks he did, 
Alford that he did not. James Morison suggests 
that "He was, as it were, giving himself to his 
disciples. To have given himself to himself 
would have been to have either ignored or per- 
plexed the profound significance of the ordi- 
nance." On the contrary, Luke implies his par- 
ticipation (See Luke 22 : 15, 18, note). But if he did not 

participate, this would be no reason why the 
modern administrator should not partake. "Al- 
though in one sense he represents Christ bless- 
ing, breaking, and distributing, in another he is 
one of the disciples, examining himself, confess- 
ing, partaking." — (Alford.) Christ's language 
here, " Take, eat," is also quite inconsistent with 
the Romish doctrine that the Lord's Supper is a 
continuous sacrifice of Christ. " He bids his 
disciples take ; and therefore it is he alone that 
offers. What the papists contrive, as to Christ's 
offering himself in the Supper, proceeded from 
an opposite author. And certainly it is a strange 
inversion, when a mortal man, who is commanded 
to take the body of Christ, claims the office of 
offering it ; and thus a priest, who has been ap- 
pointed by himself, sacrifices to God His own 
Son. ' ' — ( Calvin. ) 

27. And he took the cup. After supper 
(Luke 22 : 20 ; i Cor. u : 25). It was, therefore, the third 
or fourth cup as described above, at the close of 
the Supper, and after the bitter herbs, the 
unleavened bread, and the lamb had been a 
eaten. Of the form of the ancient cups we m 
give three illustrations — 
two of them Egyptian 
drinking-cups, such as are 
still used in Egypt ; the 
other, an ancient Roman 
wine - cup. — And gave 
thanks. The Communion should be an occa- 
sion, as the sacrifice of Christ should be for 
us an inspiration, of thanksgiving (Psalm ne : 13 ; Rev. 
6 : 6, 9). From the Greek verb here rendered gave 
thanks (evxaQiarito, eucharisteo) comes one of 
the names frequently given to the ordinance, the 




ROMAN WINE-CUP. 



Eucharist. — And gave it to them. The Ro- 
mish church in the administration of the Supper, 
distributes only the bread to the laity, and con- 
fines the cup to the priest. The Romish writers 
do not claim direct Scripture authority for such 
a distinction, but they assert that the bread is 
"the body and blood and soul and divinity of 
Jesus Christ entire," so that there is no necessity 
for participating in his blood also. They cite 
Luke 24 : 30 and Acts 2 : 42, in support of the 
doctrine that participation in the bread alone is 
sufficient to constitute a full and true commu- 
nion. Of the direction here, Drink ye all of it, 
they say that the command was given to the 
apostles only, and therefore applies only to the 
priests. The argument proves too much. For 
only the apostles were admitted to the original 
supper, so that the same reasoning would ex- 
clude the laity altogether; and if one kind suffices 
for the laity, by a parity of reasoning it suffices 
for the priesthood, and the cup might be abolished 
entirely. — Drink ye all of it. "Why, con- 
cerning the bread, did he say simply that they 
should eat ; but, concerning the cup, that all 
should drink? It is as though he designed to 
counteract the cunning of Satan" (Calvin), i. e. by 
guarding against the error which heforesawwould 
be subsequently introduced into the church. 

28. For this is my blood. See verse 26, 
note, and below note on Lord's Supper, § 4. Up 
to this time the blood of bulls and of goats had 
represented Christ's blood ; henceforth the simple 
wine of this memorial supper should represent 
it (Hebrews 9 : 13, 14). — Of the new covenant. 
Alford and Tischeudorf both omit the word new 
here. But in Luke its presence is undoubted. 
Therefore, the ordinary reading undoubtedly 
correctly represents Christ's words. — Which is 



^ 




EGYPTIAN CUPS. 

shed. He speaks by anticipation, but in the 
present tense, because his passion has already 
truly begun. — For many. In a sense for all, 
in that all may accept and become partakers of 
the new covenant (Rev. 22 : 17) ; not for all, in that 
all will not accept nor become partakers (Rev. 



286 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVI. 



22:15). Parallel to the many here are the many 
of Rom. 5 : 19 ; Hebrews 9 : 28, and the great 
host of Rev. 5 : 11. — For the remission of 

sins. Not, as James Morison, "a condensed 
way of expressing remission of the penalty due 
to sin," but, literally for the remission, i. e., the 
putting away of sin. The blood of Jesus not 
only secures pardon (Acts 5 : 31), but cleanseth from 
all sin (1 John 1 : 7). The object of his death is that 
we may have eternal life (John 3 .• 14-16), and be re- 
deemed from all iniquity (Titus 2 : 14). Observe 
Christ's solemn and emphatic endorsement by 
the very institution of the Lord's Supper, (1) of 
the O. T. doctrine of sacrifices, i. e., of salvation 
through the shedding of blood ; (2) of the N. T. 
doctrine that the sins of the world are put away 
by Christ, not merely through the influence of 
his life, teachings and example, but by his blood, 
poured out for a sinful world. As by the bread he 
emphasizes the truth that our spiritual life de- 
pends on our receiving his spirit into our hearts, 
so, by the wine, he emphasizes the truth that his 
covenant or promise of grace depends on the pour- 
ing out of his blood, i. e., on him as a sacrifice 

for Our Sins (Matt. 20 : 28 ; John 12 : 24, 32, 33 ; 15 : 13 ; Rom. 
3 : 25 ; 5 : 6, 8, 10 j 1 Cor. 15 : 3 ; Hebrews 9:12, 16, 26, 28 ; 10:10, 
19 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 24 ; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1 : 5 ; 5 : 9). As to the 

contrast between the Old and New Covenants, 
see Gal. 4 : 21-31 ; Hebrews 8 : 9-13 ; 10 : 16-18, 
and compare Deut. 28 : 1 ; 30 : 16, with Rom. 
7 : 25 ; 8 : 1. But in the O. T. the promise of salva- 
tion from sin was, as it is in the N. T.,to penitence 
and faith. See Rom. chap. 4 ; Isaiah 55 : 7. 

29. This fruit of the vine. This language 
is used after tlie blessing has been pronounced on 
the cup, showing evidently that it still contained 
wine simply, and that the language "This is my 
blood " is to be interpreted as symbolical. — 
Drink it new. Not drink new wine, but drink 
it anew. (The Greek is not vioc but xaivuc.) 
The new heavens and the new earth shall have a 
new memorial of God's love in Christ. Observe 
(1) that the Lord's Supper is a prophecy as well 
as a parable ; has a future as well as a com- 
memorative aspect ; looks back to the Passover, 
forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb ; (2) 
that as the Lord's Supper superseded the Pass- 
over, so the heavenly supper will supersede the 
earthly memorial. Luke (chap. 22 : is) reports sim- 
ilar language to that used here ; but in connec- 
tion with the cup before the Supper. Perhaps 
the words were repeated. 

30. And when they had sung an hymn. 
Literally, when they had hymned. — Psalms 113, 
114, 115, and 116, were ordinarily chanted at the 
Jewish Passover ; the first two during, the last 
two at the close of the service. These were 
probably the Psalms now chanted. — They went 
out into the Mount of Olives. Luke adds, 

' as he was wont," i.e., during this passion week. 



Compare John 8 : 1. This may have been for 
solitude simply, or also in part for safety. He 
went directly to the Garden of Gethsemane. 
Before going out to the Mount of Olives, Christ 
uttered a part at least, if not all, of the discourses 
reported in John, chaps. 14-16, and the prayer in 
John, chap. 17. 

Note on the Lord's Supper. — Several ques- 
tions relating to the proper interpretation of the 
account of the Lord's Supper, as given by the 
Evangelists, we consider together here. The 
theological and ecclesiastical questions respecting 
the proper mode of observance of the rite in our 
churches of to-day, it does not come within the 
province of a commentary to discuss, except in- 
cidentally. 

1. Time of observance. There is no doubt that 
the Lord's Supper was instituted on Thursday 
evening, the day before the crucifixion. Between 
that day and the resurrection, which took place 
on the first day of the week (Matt. 28 : 1), two full 
days, Friday and Saturday, intervened. But 
whether it was observed on the evening of the 
Passover supper, or on the evening preceding, 
i. e., whether Thursday or Friday evening was 
the time observed by the Jewish people as the 
Passover, is a serious question. This question is 
of no particular importance, except that the 
supposed discrepancy between John and the 
three Synoptic Gospels has been made the occa- 
sion of assault on the credibility of the gospel 
narratives. I shall here state very briefly the 
difficulty, and what I believe to be the true solu- 
tion. For a fuller exposition the student is 
referred to Robinson's English Harmony of the 
Gospels, vih, §§ 133-158, Intro, note, and An- 
drews' Life of Our Lord, pp. 423^460. 

The feast of the Passover properly began on 
the 15th and lasted to and including the 21st day 
of Nisan (Numb. 28 : n), thus making a feast of seven 
days. But the Jews calculated their feast days, 
including the Sabbath, from the sunset of the 
day preceding. Thus the feast of the Passover 
strictly began on the evening of the 14th of Nisan. 
On that day the lamb to be eaten was slain be- 
tween three and five o'clock in the afternoon, 
and on the evening of the same day the supper, 
prescribed in Exod. 12 : 17-20, was eaten in the 

VariOUS households (Exod. 12:6; Lev. 23 : 5 ; Numb. 9 : 3- 

5 ; Deut. 16 : 6). This was not strictly ot a festival 
character. The unleavened bread, the bitter 
herbs, the dress and attendant circumstances 
(Exod. 12 : 8-i i), all reminded the nation of their 
bitter bondage in Egypt. "It was," says Light- 
foot, "a thing rubbing up the remembrance of 
affliction, rather than denoting gladness and 
making merry." After this supper, a memorial 
of the fearful night when the dead lay in every 
house of Egypt, followed the more joyous festiv- 
ities which rendered the week one of national 



Ch. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



287 



rejoicing. The rites which characterized this 
week are described in Numbers 28 : 18-25, and 
Lev. 23 : 4-8. There were also introduced by 
the Jews, subsequent to the institution of the 
Passover, voluntary offerings, which were called 
Khagigah or Chagigah. These more joyous offer- 
ings were usually presented on the 15th of Nisan, 
the day succeeding the supper proper. These 
facts interpret both the difficulty and the solu- 
tion. The three Synoptists unquestionably rep- 
resent Christ as eating the true Passover with 
his disciples. Matthew says that on the first day 
of the unleavened bread (verse n) the disciples 
came to Christ for directions respecting prepa- 
rations for the Passover, i. e., the Passover sup- 
per. Mark and Luke are still more definite. 
" The first day of unleavened bread when they 
killed the Passover," says Mark; "when the 
Passover must be killed " is Luke's language. It 
would be almost impossible to designate more 
distinctly the 14th day of Nisan, when the lambs 
were slain in the temple, to be eaten in the house- 
holds that same evening. " Philologically con- 
sidered there cannot be a shadow of doubt but 
that Matthew, Mark, and Luke intended to 
express, and do express in the plainest terms, 
their testimony to the fact that Jesus regularly 
partook of the ordinary and legal Passover meal 
on the evening after the 14th of Nisan, at the 
same time with all the Jews." — {Robinson.) 

John's Gospel, on the other hand, has been taken 
to indicate that the meal described by the Syn- 
optists must have been taken before the Passover 
supper, i. e., on the evening of the 13th of Nisan. 
And Alford, who offers no explanation of the 
supposed discrepancy, declares in strong terms 
that "the narrative of John not only does not 
sanction but absolutely excludes " the other sup- 
position, i. e., that the Lord's Supper and the 
paschal supper were contemporaneous. The 
references in John's Gospel which are supposed 
to sustain this assertion are the following : John 
13 : 1, "Now before the feast of the Passover" 
when Jesus knew that his hour was come ; 
John 18 : 28, "They themselves (the Jews) went 
not into the judgment hall (on Friday morning, 
the day of the crucifixion) lest they should be 
defiled; but that they might eat the Passover;" 
John 19 : 14, "It was the preparation of the Pas- 
sover, about the sixth hour," a phrase which 
occurs in describing the trial before Pilate on 
Friday forenoon ; John 13 : 29, " Buy that we 
have need of against the feast," words supposed 
to have been uttered by Christ to Judas during 
the Lord's Supper, and therefore to indicate that 
the feast was still future. Referring the reader, 
for fuller interpretation, to these passages and 
the notes upon them, it must suffice here to say 
(1) that while the Synoptists generally mean by 
" the Passover" (to nilo/a) the feast of the pas- 



chal lamb, John generally uses the same term to 
embrace the festivities of the entire week ; (2) 
that John wrote after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem and the end of Judaism as the divine religion, 
and, therefore, it might be expected that he 
would write with less precision of language con- 
cerning Jewish rites and ceremonials ; (3) that if 
we believe, as I think we have abundant reason 
for believing, that John wrote with the Synoptists 
before him, and to supply what they omitted, it 
is difficult to conceive that he would have left 
what appears to be a glaring contradiction be- 
tween his account and theirs, if we assume that 
by the word "passover" in John 18:28, and 
19 : 14, he means the paschal supper ; (4) that 
there is no contradiction whatever, if we under- 
stand by his use of that term the festivities of 
the Passover week, which did not, as we have 
shown, strictly begin until the 15th of Nisan. As 
to the argument of Alford that the law forbade 
the Jews departing from their house after the 
paschal meal before morning (Exod. 12 : 22), whereas 
Christ and his apostles went out at the close of 
the supper, the answer is that, in point of fact, 
this prohibition, even if intended to be observed 
in the subsequent memorial services, which is 
doubtful, was in Christ's time no longer observed. 
As to the argument that, according to Rabbinical 
law, atrial and execution could not take place on 
a feast day, the sufficient reply is that many of 
the rules of the Rabbinical law were violated by 
the proceedings in the trial and crucifixion of 
Jesus. I judge, then, with Robinson, that "there 
is nothing in the language of John, or in the at- 
tendant circumstances, which upon fair interpre- 
tation requires or permits us to believe, that the 
beloved disciple either intended to correct or has 
in fact corrected or contradicted, the explicit and 
unquestionable testimony of Matthew, Mark, and 
Luke," and with Andrews, that " there is no dis- 
crepancy between the Synoptists and John. The 
Lord ate the true paschal supper at the appointed 
time, — the time when it was eaten by the Jews in 
general, on the evening following the 14th of 
Nisan," i. e., as we should say, on the evening of 
the 14th. For an opposite view, see Farrar's 
Life of Christ, Appendix, Excursus X. That the 
Lord's Supper was partaken on the evening of 
the Jewish Passover is maintained by Robinson, 
Andrews, Kitto, Smith, Eddy, Newcome, and 
apparently Lightfoot ; it is doubted or denied by 
Pressense, Milman, Ellicott, Townsend, Alford, 
Neander, and Farrar. 

2. Relation of the Lord's Supper to the Passover. 
The question whether our Lord simply adopted 
and modified the paschal supper, or at its close 
instituted a new and independent Christian ordi- 
nance, is a matter of debate. It is important 
only in throwing light on the significance of the 
ordinance. The paschal supper was a family 



288 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVI. 



rather than a church ordinance, was observed in 
the home circle, the father administered it, and 
originally killed the lamb himself, though a later 
law required the sacrifice to be performed at the 
temple (Deut. 16 : 1-6). Matthew and Mark in their 
account of the Lord's Supper both say "As they 
were eating Jesus took bread" (see ver. 26; Mark 
14 : 22). Luke and Paul both say that he took the 
cup "after supper" or "when he had supped" 
(Luke 22: 20 j 1 cor. ii: 25). Some eminent scholars, 
among whom may be mentioned Dr. Conant of 
this country, and Dr. Brown of Scotland, follow- 
ing Calvin, regard the Lord's Supper as entirely 
separate from the paschal feast and instituted at 
its close. The more general opinion is that the 
words " after supper" or "when he had supped " 
indicate simply that the cup referred to was the 
third or fourth in the paschal supper, which was 
taken toward the close of the feast ; and that as 
Jesus adopted but gave new significance to bap- 
tism, so he employed the paschal feast, but gave 
a new meaning to it. This substantially appears 
to be the view of Lightfoot, Lange, Ellicott, Stan- 
ley, Alford, Andrews, and Barnes : and this ap- 
pears to me the better view. This view is also 
sustained, indirectly, by Paul's reference to Christ 
as our Passover in 1 Cor. 5 : 7. 

8. Bid Christ intend this Supper as a permanent 
Church Ordinance? The language of the Evan- 
gelists is not conclusive on this question. His 
words, "This do in remembrance of me" (Luke 
22 : 19; icor. u : 24, 25) might mean simply, Hereafter 
keep the Passover feast, as long as it is observed, 
in remembrance not merely of the Jewish national 
deliverance, but of the new and grander covenant 
in my blood. The command is not in words more 
specific or significant than the command in John 
13 : 14, 15, to wash one another's feet. But the 
subsequent practice of the apostles (Acts 2: 42, 46, 
20 : 7), and still more the fact that directions for 
the Lord's Supper were made a matter of special 
revelation to Paul (1 Cor. 11 : 23), seem to make it 
clear that Christ intended the ordinance for a 
perpetual one, and that his apostles so under- 
stood it. Whether it was intended to be strictly 
a church ordinance, and confined to members of 
the visible church, is another question, and one 
on which the record of its institution throws no 
light. 

4. Significance of the Lord's Supper. The Ro- 
man Catholic interpreters, taking literally 
Christ's words, "This is my body," "This is 
my blood" (verses 26, 28), hold that Christ's sacri- 
fice is a continuous one ; that by the blessing of 
the priest the bread and wine are now converted 
into the "body and blood and soul of our Lord 
Jesus Christ ; " that hence the consecrated ele- 
ments " contain Jesus Chrjst himself, the foun- 
tain of all grace, and become, if worthily par- 
taken, the pre-eminent means of grace, minister- 



ing to the spiritual nature, and preparing the 
body for the glorious change of the resur- 
rection of the last day." The objections to this 
view are, (1) that it violates the fundamental rule 
of Scripture exegesis, in not taking the words of 
Jesus Christ in the sense in which they would 
have been understood by his hearers at the time ; 
(2) it represents the sacrifice of Christ as contin- 
uous, while the Scripture declares it to have 
taken place once for all (Heb. 9 : 28; 10 : 12-18) ; (3) it 
represents the need of man to be a participator 
in Christ's body and blood, whereas what man 
needs is a participation in Christ's spirit, without 
which we are none of his (Rom. 8:9); (4) it rests 
on the assertion of a continuous miracle, viz., 
the change of bread and wine into flesh and 
blood, while confessedly there is nothing to indi- 
cate such a change ; the bread is still in appear- 
ance and in chemical constitution bread, and the 
wine is still wine ; and thus the very essence is 
wanting of a true miracle, which is an external 
and sensible sign of a spiritual truth or a divine 
authority. See note above on verse 26. 

In studying the true significance of this sup- 
per, note the following facts : (1.) Its simplicity. 
It is instituted as the disciples are eating ; out 
of the materials of the supper ; without a pre- 
scribed form or ritual ; with no other prepara- 
tion than love in Christ for his disciples, and in 
the disciples for Christ. (2.) Historically it is 
connected with the Passover, which prefigured 
and interprets it. Thus it memorializes our 
deliverance from the bondage of sin by the death 
of Christ, who is our Passover (Rom. 8 : 2; 1 Cor. 5:7).. 
(3.) It prophetically points to the future mar- 
riage SUpper Of the Lamb (ver. 29 ; Mark 14 : 25). 

(4.) The bread and wine enter into and become 
part of our flesh and blood, and so the support 
of our life. It is Christ in us who is the hope of 
glory (Rom. 8 : 9 ; Gai. 2 : 20). (5.) The wheat must 
be bruised and broken, and the grape crushed 
and bleeding, before we can eat the bread or 
drink the wine. It is by the death of Christ that 

We have life (see above, ver. 28, note ; Gal. 3 : 13 ; 1 Pet. 4:1; 

Rev. 5 : 6). Compare, for Christ's own interpreta- 
tion of this supper, John G : 26-65. Observe 
especially, in its bearing on transubstantiation, 
verse 63. 

5. Method and conditions of obsei-vance. These 
are evidently not to be determined by the exam- 
ple of Christ ; for the original supper was taken 
in a private house, an upper chamber, at night, 
around a table, reclining, women excluded, only 
the ordained apostles admitted. None of these 
conditions are maintained to-day by any Chris- 
tian sect. If the conditions are determined by 
Christ's words, these prescribe no form, give no 
hint who shall administer, and prescribe no con- 
dition of participation but a loving remembrance 

Of Christ himself (Luke 22 : 19 j 1 Cor. 11 : 24, 25). And 



Oh. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



289 



31 Then saitli Jesus unto them, All ye shall be of- 
fended because of me this night : for it is written, 11 I 
will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock 
shall be scattered abroad. 

32 But after I am risen again," 5 1 will go before you 
into Galilee. 

33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all 



men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never 
be offended. 

34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That 
this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me 
thrice. 

35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with 
thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all 
the disciples. 



d Zee. 13 : 7. . . . e ch. 28 : 7, 10, 16. 



with this agrees the words of Paul (1 Cor. n.-. 27-29), 
where he defines eating unworthily to be eating 
without "discerning the Lord's body," i. c, as 
the context shows, like an ordinary supper, and 
without remembrance of the Lord. 

Ch. 2G : 31-35. PROPHECY OF PETER'S DENIAL — 
Let huh that standeth take heed lest he fall. 

The four Evangelists record Christ's prophecy 
of Peter's denial ; Mark 14 : 27-31 ; Luke 22 : 
31-38 ; John 13 : 36-38. The prophecy appears 
to have been twice uttered — once before the 
supper, of which Luke and John give a report, 
once after the supper, of which Matthew and 
Mark give a report. Luke's account must be 
compared with Matthew's in order to under- 
stand Peter's spirit. He had been warned of his 
danger, and had resented the warning ; it is now 
repeated, but is still resented. The proverb, 
"Forewarned is forearmed," is true only of 
watchful souls. 

31. Then. After the supper, but not neces- 
sarily after they had left the room. — All ye 
shall be offended. Caused to stumble and 
fall into sin. Compare Matt. 11 : 6, note. Christ 
is sometimes a cause of stumbling ; and a rock 
of offence ; so the Christian will be at times in 
the course of duty. — For it is written. The 
reference is to Zech. 13 : 7, which Henderson 
translates as follows : " Awake, O sword ! against 
my Shepherd, and against the man who is united 
to me, saith Jehovah of Hosts ; smite the shep- 
herd, and the sheep shall be scattered." The 
sword is simply an emblem of death by any 

instrument (Exod. 5 : 21 ; 2 Sam. 12 : 9 with 2 Sam. 11 : 24). 

It is therefore an appropriate emblem of the 
crucifixion. The prophecy itself is difficult ; but 
that it refers to Christ is evident, (a) because 
Christ is the only Shepherd who can be described 
as " the man who is united to God ; " (6) because 
Christ here explicitly applies it to himself.— I 
will smite the shepherd. Not merely, as 
Bengel, "God is said to smite Jesus, since he 
delivered him to be smitten." Throughout the 
N. T. Christ is represented as offered up by his 
own Father or by himself, though it is also ex- 
plicitly declared that he was slain by wicked men 

(John 3:16; Rom. 5:8; Heb. 7 : 27 ; 9 : 14, 28 ; comp. John 18:11; 
Acts 2 : 23). 

32. I will go before you into Galilee. 

For fulfillment of this prophecy see Matt. 28 : 7 ; 



Luke 24 : 7 ; John, chap. 21. The connection 
and significance is well given by Quesnel : "The 
sheep forsake the shepherd, but he forsakes not 
his sheep." 

33. Peter answered, * * * I will never 
be offended. Christ had previously warned 
Peter of his peculiar danger : "Satan hath de- 
sired to have you, * * * but I have prayed 
for thee " (Luke 22 : 32), and Peter had resented the 
idea that he needed the Lord's prayers. Now,* 
when Christ warns all of their danger, Peter 
should have been the first to heed the admoni- 
tion, but is the most outspoken in resenting it. 
His self-confidence has not been weakened by the 
previous warning ; only experience can weaken 
it. " Where he should have prayed and said, 
Help us, that we be not cut off, he is confident in 
himself and saith, ' Though all men should be of- 
fended in thee, yet will I never.' " — (Chrysostom.) 

34. Jesus said unto him. Mark (i4:3o) 
gives probably his exact words : "Verily (see Matt. 
5 : is, note) I say unto thee, That this day, even in 
this night, before the cock crow twice, thou 
shalt deny me thrice." The first cock-crow is at 
midnight, but inasmuch as few hear it, the cock- 
crowing is generally put for the second crowing, 
i. e., the early dawn. Matthew's language here, 
"before the cock crow," is thus equivalent to 
Mark's "before the cock crow twice ; " by both 
the early dawn is indicated. In fact, the cock 
was heard to crow twice during the thrice re- 
peated denials of Peter (Mark 14 : 68, 72). — Deny 
me. Disown me as Master and Lord. Comp. 
Luke 22 : 34. 

35. Peter said unto him, Even if it 
should bind me to die with thee yet 
would I not disown thee. His language 
in the original is stronger than that of our Eng- 
lish version. — Likewise also said all the 
discipies. They were inspired by Peter's en- 
thusiasm, and imbibed his self-confidence. 

There is a right Christian confidence, but it 
rests on the presence and power of the Lord (pmi. 
4: 13; 2 Tim. i : 12) ; and upon a consciousness of 
personal weakness (2 cor. 12 : 9, 10). Peter's rested 
on his own courage and fidelity, and failed him 
in the hour of trial. "A man's willingness is not 
sufficient unless he receive succor from above ; 
but, we gain nothing by succor from above, if 
there be not a willingness on our own part." — 
(Chrysostom.) ComprPhil. 2 : 12, 13. 



290 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVI. 



36 Then' cometh Jesus with them unto a place 
called Gethseinane, and saith unto the disciples, bit ye 
here, while 1 go and pray yonder. 



37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons cf 
Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 



f Mark 14 : 32, etc. ; Luke 22 : 39, etc. ; John 18 : 1, etc. 



Ch. 26 : 30-46. CHRIST'S A0I(«Y IN GETHSEMANE. 
—Christ's nature, experience, and office illus- 
trated; HE TAKES ON HIM NOT MERELY THE APPEAR- 
ANCE BUT THE REALITY OF MANHOOD ; BECOMES A 
SYMPATHIZING HIGH PRIEST ; IS TEMPTED IN ALL POINTS 

like as WE are YET without sin (Phil. 2 ; 7, 8 ; He- 
brews 2:16-18; 4 : 15, 16). — Christ's love for us 
illustrated : the agony of Gethsemane is the 
agony of a suffering love.— The sinfulness of sin 
illustrated : by the experience of horror it pro- 
duces in Christ.— The Christian's conflict illus- 
trated : THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE WILLING SPIRIT 
AND THE WEAK FLESH ; THE ARMAMENT, PRAYER; THE 
VICTORY, CALM ACQUIESCENCE IN THE DIVINE WILL. 

This inexplicable experience is recorded by- 
Matthew, Mark (14 : 32-42), and Luke (22 : 39-46). 



John (is : 1) mentions going into the garden, but 
not the agony, an indication that he wrote with 
the other Evangelists before him, and in part to 
supply what they had omitted. Luke, alone, 
(verses 43, 44) mentions the appearance of the angel 
strengthening Christ and the bloody sweat ; 
otherwise, the three accounts are substantially 
the same. The verbal differences, especially in 
their reports of the prayer, are noteworthy and 
instructive ; "Shewing us, even in this solemn 
instance, the comparative indifference of the 
letter when we have the inner spirit." — (Alford.) 
Observe the inconsistency of these accounts 
with the modern mythical theory of the origin 
of the Gospels. Such a struggle would never 




GABDEN OF GETHSEMANE : JERUSALEM IN THE BACKGROUND. 



be invented and imputed to the God-man, by 
his adherents. Even Celsus (2d century) and 
Julian (4th century) held it up for contempt 
as an evidence of weakness and fear ; and Renan 
and Schenckel endeavor, in vain, to reconcile 



it with their conception of the character of Jesus 
as merely a lofty and noble man. 

36. Then ; probably about midnight ; com- 
eth Jesus to a place called Gethsemane. 

The word is Hebrew, and means oil-press. 



ch. xxyi.] 



MATTHEW. 



291 



38 Then saith he unto them, My e soul is exceeding 
sorrowful, even unto death : tarry ye here, and watch 
with me. 



39 And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, 
and h prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, 
let this cup ' pass from me ! nevertheless,' not as I will, 
but as thou wilt. 



g Pa. 116 : 3; Is. 53 : S, 10 ; John 12 : 27 h Heb. 5:7 i ch. 20 : 



. j John 5 : SO ; 6 : 38 ; Rom. 15:3; Phil. 2 : 8. 



Wordsworth comments on its significance as an 
emblem of trial, distress, and agony, and refers 
to Isaiah 63 : 3 ; Lam. 1 : 15 ; Joel 3 : 13. Comp. 
Rev. 14 : 20. It was a garden, i. e., an orchard, 
outside of Jerusalem, east of the brook Cedron, 
on the slope of the Mount of Olives beyond, and 
was a spot where Christ and his disciples were 

WOnt tO resort (John 18 : 1 ; Luke 22 : 29). Its location 

cannot be identified with certainty. Our illus- 
tration shows the traditional site, which is en- 
closed with a low wall covered with white stucco, 
and comparatively recently erected. A series of 
rude pictures are hung along the wall, represent- 
ing different scenes in Christ's passion. The 
place is under the control of the Roman Catholic 
priesthood. If not the genuine garden, which is 
very doubtful, it is in the same general locality, 
and the olive-trees are of very great antiquity, 
and so decayed as to require to be propped up to 
prevent being blown down by the wind. — Sit ye 
here while I go and pray yonder. Com- 
pare the language of Abraham in Genesis 22 : 5, 
"Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad 
will go yonder and worship." "Jesus, priest 
and victim, lays himself on the altar, with Abra- 
ham's faith and Isaac's resignation." — (Stier.) 

37. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. 
James and John. They had been witnesses of 
his transfiguration (Matt, n -. l) and of one of his 
greatest miracles (Mark 5: 37). "Jesus Christ im- 
parts his sorrow and heaviness of heart to those 
whom he loves the most." — (Quesnel.) — Began 
to be very sorrowful and dejected. So 
great was his sorrow now, that all which he had 
previously endured was as nothing ; now, as for 
the first time, he began to experience sorrow. 
Mark says that he was "sore amazed,'''' and the 
original, which is aptly rendered, implies that 
the disclosure of the sorrow came upon him, if 
not literally as a surprise, at least with new and 
unexpected force. Luke (22 : u) says he was " in 
an agony,'''' i. e., a conflict, for this is the literal 
meaning of the original. Combining these ac- 
counts we have a hint of the elements which 
entered into this mystical experience. There 
was a conflict, i. e., between his dread of the im- 
pending Passion, and his desire to accomplish it. 
(Luke 12: 50; John 12 : 27, 28) ; a bitter sorrow, the 
secret of which we may partially conjecture, it 
is not and cannot be fully interpreted to us ; a 
dejection, produced by the seeming failure of his 
earthly mission, the rejection of him by his na- 
tion, the dullness of spiritual vision, even in his 
disciples ; and a sense of surprise and horror in 



the full and unexpected disclosure made in that 
hour of the burden he must bear. See Lessons 
of Gethsemane below. 

38. My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death. A proverbial expression 
indicating the severity of the suffering. Comp. 
Jonah 4 : 9. But here it is not hyperbolic. Cer- 
tainly it is not to be interpreted as Bengel, 
"Such sorrow might have driven an ordinary 
man to suicide." The sorrow itself was, if not 
alleviated, sufficient to cause death ; it brought 
him to death's door. "Our Lord's whole inmost 
life must have been one of continual trouble of 
spirit. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief. But there was an extremity of an- 
guish now, reaching even to the utmost limit of 
endurance, so that it seemed that more would 
be death itself." — (Alford.) Rather, more would 
have caused death, as is indicated by the bloody 
sweat produced by what he endured. See Luke 
22 : 44, note. — Tarry ye here and watch 
with me. Not because "in the abasement of 
his humanity he regarded them as some comfort 
to him." The hunger of the human soul for 
sympathy and love is not a part of its abasement. 
It is in the O. T. attributed to God (j«. z-.u-, 31 : 20 ; 
Ezek. 33 : 11 ; Hosea ii : 8) and here to the God-man. 
In his struggle with the powers of darkness he 
desired the fellowship of friends. 

39. And he went a little further; about 
a stone's cast (Luke). The distance would not 
exceed forty or fifty yards, if so much ; the dis- 
ciples might therefore catch the leading words of 
Christ's prayer before drowsiness overpowered 
them. This separation from his disciples was 
because he would be alone. "When some great 
necessity urges us, "because the fervor of prayer 
is more fully indulged when we are alone, it is 
useful for us to pray apart. And if the Son of 
God did not disregard this aid, it would be the 
greatest madness of pride in us not to apply it 
for our own advantage." — (Calvin.) — And fell 
on his face. Mark says, "on the ground;" 
Luke says, "he kneeled down."— And prayed, 
saying, * * * Let this cup pass from 
me. The cup is in the O. T. an emblem both of 
the mercy (Psalm 23 : 5), and of the wrath (Psalm 75 : 8 ; 

Isaiah 51 : 22 ; Jer. 25 : 15-17 ; Ezek. 23 : 33) Of God ; general- 
ly, the latter. The cup which Christ drinks, of 
sorrow, becomes the cup of our salvation (psaim 
H6 : 13 ; Matt. 26 -. 27, 28). To him it is wrath, to us it 
is mercy. 

In studying this prayer of our Lord, compare 
the accounts in the three Evangelists. 



292 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth 
them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What ! could ye not 
watch with me one hour ? 



41 Watch, k and pray, that ye 1 enter not into tempta- 
tion ; m the spirit" indeed is willing, but the flesh is 
weak. 



; 14 : 38 ; Luke 22 : 40 ; Eph. 6 : 18 ; Rev. 16 : 15 1 Pr. 4 : 14, 15 m Rev. 3 : 10 n Is. 25 : 8, 9 ; Rom. 7 : 18-25 ; Gal. 5:17. 



Matthew. 

Oh my Father, if it be possi- 
ble,\et this cup pass from me ; 
nevertheless, not as I will, but 
as thou wilt. 



Mark. 

Abba, Father, all things are 
possible unto thee : take away 
this cup from me ; neverthe- 
less, not what X will, but what 
thou wilt. 



Luke. 

Father, if thou be willing, 
remove this cup from me ; 
nevertheless, not my will, but 
thine be done. 



Observe (1) trie variation in expression. Mat- 
thew says, "If it be possible;" Mark, "All 
things are possible;" Luke, "If thou be will- 
ing." If it was not possible, this was only be- 
cause God, in his supreme wisdom, did not will 
to remove the cup, i. e., because the Divine will 
could not be carried out except by Christ's Pas- 
sion and death. The spirit of the prayer is seen 
by combining the accounts thus : Father, all 
things are possible to thee ; if thou canst accom- 
plish thy Divine purposes and let this cup pass 
from me, remove it. Observe (3) the spirit of 
the prayer as embodied in all these accounts. 
(a.) Its simplicity and brevity illustrate his own 
instructions (Matt. 6 : 7, 8). We need not suppose 
that the report is a verbatim one ; but it cer- 
tainly exhibits the essential character of this 
prayer. (6.) Its trustfulness. In the address 
Abba, Father, and the expression of confidence 
in the Father's power, All things are possible 
unto thee. Nothing depends on Judas, Caia- 

phaS, Or Pilate ; all On God (comp. verse 53 ; John 19 : 11). 

(c.) Its earnestness and outspokenness of peti- 
tion, "Take away this cup." Before his Father 
he pours forth his desire without hindrance. 
Comp. Heb. 4 : 16. (d.) Its supreme petition. 
Not as I will, but as thou wilt. This is not 
merely the language of submission, but of peti- 
tion ; he does not merely say, If not as I will, 
then as thou wilt, but, Do not what I will, ratter 
what thou wilt. But (n-Aip) is an adversative 
particle signifying a positive preference for the 
petition which follows. Thus he negatives the 
erroneous notion of prayer, viz., that it is the 
means by which the wish of man determines the 
will of God, "Not as I will ;" and teaches the 
true office of prayer, viz., to change the will hu- 
man into the will divine. See a sermon by F. W. 
Robertson on Matt. 36 : 39. The commentators 
see in this prayer a plain refutation of the Mono- 
thelite heresy, which held but one will in the 
Lord Jesus. "The distinction is clear and 
marked by our Lord himself. In his human 
soul he willed to be freed from the dreadful 
things before him ; but this human will was 
overruled by the inner and divine purpose, the 



will at unity with the Father's will."— (Alford.) 
Similarly Calvin, Kyle, and others. But, in the 
same sense and to the same extent, the experi- 
ence of Paul (Rom. 7 : 15-n), and of every Christian, 
shows two wills. Such metaphysical refinements 
on Scripture belong not to the spirit of little 
children, with which we are to receive this and 
all the mysteries of the kingdom of grace (Matt. 
18:3). The experience of Christ is to be inter- 
preted, so far as it can be interpreted at all, by 
our own lesser but analogous conflicts. "It is 
not inconsistent with the spirit of prayer that 
Christ here asks a thing that is impossible to be 
granted to him ; for the prayers of believers do 
not always flow on with uninterrupted measure 
to the end, do not always maintain a uniform 
measure, are not always arranged even in a dis- 
tinct order, but on the contrary are involved and 
confused, and either oppose each other or stop 
in the middle of the course, like a vessel stopped 
by tempests, which, though it advances towards 
the harbor, cannot always keep a straight and 
uniform course, as in a calm sea." — (Calvin.) 

40. And he cometh unto the disciples. 
That is to the three, Peter, James, and John. — 
And findeth them asleep. "Sleeping for 
sorrow " (Luke). Observe, they forget sorrow in 
sleep, Christ conquers it by prayer. Compare 
with the world's forgetfulness of sorrow the 
Christian's victory over it, Rom. 5:3; 8 : 35-39. 
— Unto Peter. Who had just boasted that he 
would never forsake his Lord, yet forsook him 
at the very entrance-door of his Passion. — One 
hour. Not to be taken literally. There is 
nothing definite to indicate the time spent in the 
garden. Andrews supposes that they reached it 
about midnight, and the arrest took place be- 
tween one and two in the morning. Certainly 
considerable time elapsed between the arrest and 
daylight. 

41. Watch and pray. Observe the double 
command. Some watch without praying, some 
pray without watching. Corresponding to this 
is Paul's direction in Phil. 3 : 13, 13.— That ye 
enter not into temptation. Contrast James 
1 : 3, "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers 



Ch. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



293 



42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, 
saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away 
from me, except 1 drink it, thy will be done. 

43 And he came and found them asleep again : for 
their eyes were heavy. 

44 And he left them, and went away again, and 
prayed the third ° time, saying the same words. 



45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto 
them, Sleep on now, and take your rest ; behold, the 
hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into 
the hands of sinners. 

46 Rise, let us be going : behold, he is at hand that 
doth betray me. 



2 Cor. 12 : 8. 



temptations." It is a joy to us to be brought 
involuntarily into circumstances that try our 
faith, and so give us new disclosures of our 
Saviour's power and grace ; it is a sorrow to us 
when we enter into temptation voluntarily, and 
so entertain it with the will. Thus to enter into 
temptation is to enter into sin. — The spirit in- 
deed is eager, but the flesh is weak. The 
reference is unmistakably to Peter's eager decla- 
ration that he was ready to suffer imprisonment 
and death with Christ (Luke 22 : 33). Thus Christ 
looks mercifully upon their strong desire, and so 
pardons their weak performance. It is, however, 
true that our Lord himself illustrates this say- 
ing. " At that moment he was giving as high and 
pre-eminent example of its truth as the disciples 
were affording a low and ignoble one. He, in 
the willingness of the spirit, yielding himself to 
the Father's will to suffer and die, but weighed 
down by the weakness of the flesh ; they, having 
professed, and really having, a willing spirit to 
suffer with him, but, even in the one hour's watch- 
ing, overcome by the burden of drowsiness." — 
(Alford.) Observe in this contrast the lesson for 
us. In both Christ and the disciples there is a 
willing spirit, in both weakness of the flesh. 
But in Christ the spirit conquers the flesh, and 
he is victor ; in the disciples the flesh conquers 
the spirit, and they are defeated. "Not every 
one that saith unto me Lord, Lord," the willing 
spirit, "but he that doeth the will of my Father," 
whose flesh obeys the will, " shall enter into the 
kingdom of heaven " (Matt. 7 : 21). 

42. He went away again and prayed 
the second time. "More earnestly," says 
Luke, who adds the account of the bloody sweat 
(Luke 22 : 4i, note). Observe the change in the prayer 
which Mark and Luke do not indicate. The 
continuance of the trial he accepts as God's 
answer to the petition, "Let this cup pass from 
me;" he now asks only, "Thy will be done." 
The wish to be relieved from the Passion is sub- 
dued ; the will to fulfill the Father's will is su- 
preme. At what time the angel appeared to 
him, strengthening him, as described in Luke 
22 : 44, is uncertain. I should agree with Alford 
in placing it after the first prayer, and consider- 
ing the change in the form of petition, which 
Matthew alone notes, as due to that gracious 
interposition. His prayer was heard and an- 
swered, as was Paul's (2 cor. 12 : 8-10). 

43, 44. And he left them. Observe that 



he makes no attempt to arouse them the second 
time. — Saying the same words. Mark uses 
the same language in describing the second 
prayer. Matthew's account is, apparently, the 
most specific of the three. Luke does not men- 
tion the third prayer. 

45, 46. Sleep on henceforth. Not merely 
now. The language implies that the opportunity 
for watchful sympathy with the Master has for- 
ever passed. He will make no further demands 
upon their sympathies. — Rise, let us be going. 
The language of the next verse indicates that 
the Temple officers, with Judas, were already ap- 
proaching the garden, and the instant arousal of 
the disciples was essential to their safety. The 
seeming contradiction of the two directions has 
given rise to various explanations. The best, 
because the simplest and most natural, is that 
which interprets them as the expression of in- 
flections of feeling. The direction to " Sleep 
on " is uttered in semi-soliloquy, "partly in bit- 
terness, partly in reproach, partly in a kind of 
irony, partly in sad earnest." The direction, 
"Rise; let us be going," is a practical command, 
uttered directly to the disciples, to arouse them 
to the danger at hand. The one is a gentle re- 
proach for past neglect ; the other is a kindling 
command for the present exigency. The moral 
significance of the two is admirably drawn out 
by F. W. Robertson, in a sermon, which em- 
bodies them in two sentences : "The irreparable 
past ; the available future." 

Lessons of Gethsemaue. — The mystery of 
Gethsemane is a subject for reverent study, 
not for full interpretation. No theology can 
explain Christ's character, no psychology can 
fathom his experience. No one may enter into the 
mysteries of his experience of grief ; but no one 
who loves his Lord can pass it by uncontemplat- 
ed. In studying it, beware of any interpretation 
which professes to afford a complete explanation. 
Such interpretations are either extra Scriptural, 
or anti-Scriptural ; they either deny the agony, 
because it is inconsistent with Christ's divine 
nature, or belittle it, by explanations inconsistent 
with the heroism of his human nature. Rever- 
ently recognizing the incomprehensible mystery 
of this agony, we may yet discern in it clearly 
certain facts and lessons. In deducing them 1 
quote in part from my Jesus of Nazareth, chap. 
31, where I have endeavored to give a fuller 
analysis of this experience. (1.) A real spiritual 



294 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



struggle with temptation is described. The lan- 
guage of the Evangelists is explicit. Christ is 
sorrowful, dejected, surprised, in an agony. See 
verse 37, note. Other incidents in his life indi- 
cate analogous though lesser struggles with 

temptation (Matt. 4 : l-ll, note, p. 40 ; Luke 12 : 50 ; John 12 : 27 ; 

16 : 32). The Epistle to the Hebrews, referring 
unmistakably to this experience, describes it as 
a real spiritual conflict. Heb. 5 : 7 declares that 
Christ suffered being tempted, i. e., temptation 
really entered into his soul (Heb. 2 : is ; comp. 4 : 15). 
(2.) The nature of the conflict is indicated. — This 
was not between two wills, the human and the 
divine ; the conception of two wills in one per- 
son is not found in Scripture, and is a hypothesis 
of later theology, to account for the person and 
experience of Christ. All such extra-Scriptural 
psychology is to be regarded with distrust. 
Christ intimates the nature of the conflict as one 
between the flesh and the spirit, the natural de- 
sire to escape the anguish of the Passion, and 
the higher spiritual purpose to fulfill, at what- 
ever cost, the mission given him by the Father 
(ver. 41, note). Thus it is partially interpreted by 
the analogous conflicts in Christian experience. 
But the contrast "between our partial and his 
perfect victory is noteworthy. See, for examples, 
the cases of Moses (Exod. 4 : l-n), Gideon (judges, chap. 

6), Elijah (l Kings 19 : 1-14), David (Psalms 42, 43, 73, 77, 

etc.), Jeremiah (1 :4-io, n ; ch. 4, etc.), Jonah (chap. 4), 
Paul (Rom. 7 : 13-25). (3.) Some hints of the elements 
in Christ's agony are given or may be reverently 
surmised, (a. ) Jesus was in the prime of man- 
hood ; life was just opening before him ; his soul 
was eager for work, and conscious of rare capa- 
bility to perform it ; his death was the end of all 
human hope of achievement. (6.) Into this one 
hour was crowded by prevision the combined 
horrors of the Passion, its cruelty, its shame, its 
physical torment, its spiritual tortures. "His 
flesh with all its capacities and apprehensions, 
was brought at once into immediate and simul- 
taneous contact with every circumstance of 
horror and pain that awaited him (John 18 : 4) ; 
which is never the case with us. Not only are 
the objects of dread gradually unveiled to our 
minds, but hope is ever suggesting that things 
may not be so bad as our fears represent them." 
— (Alforcl.) (c.) To his own anguish was added 
that of others vicariously borne : his mother's 
grief, his disciples' dejection and dispersion, the 
doom of his country (Luke 19 : 41-44), which he had 
vainly striven to succor and save (Matt. 23 : 37), and 
the future perils, persecutions, conflicts, and de- 
feats of bis church — all seen in instantaneous 
vision. (d.) The torment of unloving hearts 
added torture — the kiss of Judas, the denial of 
Peter, the desertion by all the disciples save one, 
the cry "Crucify him, crucify him," coming from 
those for whom he died, and all this a prophecy 



of future betrayals, denials, crucifixions. " He 
saw the seeming fruitlessness of his sacrifice ; he 
saw his cross despised by some, ignored by many 
more ; he heard the story of his love repeated in 
a thousand pulpits by cold lips, and falling in a 
thousand congregations on dull ears." (e.) The 
sense that all was voluntarily borne, might have 
been easily escaped, might still be escaped. He 
laid down his own life ; no man took it from him 
(verse 53; John io : is). Was he not throwing away a 
life which duty as well as instinct demanded he 
should preserve ? (/.) The Tempter added sub- 
tle suggestions of evil, hinted at (John 14 : 30) but 
unreported. "He who employed in the wilder- 
ness all his arts of flattery, employed in the garden 
all his inconceivable enginery of malice." Such 
seems to me to be some of the human elements 
of anguish and conflict which enter into this 
hour ; but they alone do not interpret it. For 
(4.) There was an element in that conflict which we 
can never fully appreciate. Of this, the later 
writers, Paul especially, gives some hint, but in 
language which the heart rather than the reason 

must interpret (Rom. 8 : 3 ; 2 Cor. 5 : 21 : Gal. 3 : 13). To 

Christ "death as the punishment of sin, bore a 
dark and dreadful meaning, inconceivable by any 
of us, whose inner will is tainted by the love of 
sin. Psalms 40 : 13; 38 : 1-10."— (Alford.) "To 
see as in the revelation of an instantaneous 
vision the dark deeds and darker thoughts of 
generations past and generations yet to come ; 
to turn from the setting sun of the past to the 
rising sun of the future, and alike in the night 
and in the morning horizon of history see only 
written the deep damnation of a lost world ; and 
then to feel the dark pall of this accursed load 
settling strangely down upon the soul — a soul 
whose divine purity trembled with unutterable 
horror at the lightest thought of sin — this, infi- 
nitely more than human experience, is incapable 
of any other interpretation than that which it 
receives from the superhuman agony of him 
who, for our own sakes, endured it." (5.) The 
method of Christ's conflict and the secret of his 
victory. By his experience he explains and quali- 
fies his teaching : " Sufficient for the day is the 
evil thereof." He looks intently and courage- 
ously on the future ; he summons all his powers 
to consider it and equip himself for it ; he pours 
forth in full freedom of prayer his wish, "Let 
this cup pass from me ; " he compels that wish 
to yield to the supreme purpose of his life, "Thy 
will be done ; " and he receives the gracious an- 
swer by the presence of the angel strengthening 

him to do that Will (Luke 22 : 43 ; comp. Heb. 5 : 7). (6.) 

The completeness of Christ's victory. He did not 
cease the struggle until he had conquered ; once 
ended it was never renewed. In all the terrible 
scenes of the Passion which ensued, he never 
wavered, hesitated, faltered, or showed signs 




Ml U 




'Judas one of the twelve came, and with him a great multitude, with 
swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people." 



Oh. XXVI] 



MATTHEW. 



295 



47 And while he yet spake, lo^ Judas, one of the 
twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with 
swords and staves, from the chiet priests and elders of 
the people. 



48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign,i 
saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he : hold 
him fast. 

49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, 
Master ; and kissed' him. 



p Acts 1 : 10 a. Ps. 38 : 12 r 2 Sam. 3 : 27 ; 20 : 9 ; Ps. 28 : 3. 



of fear. At the last he not only endured the 
cross, but despised the shame (Heb. 12 : 2). For 
a fuller study of the spiritual significance of 
Gethsemane I may refer the reader to Abbott's 
Jesus of Nazareth, from which I have quoted in 
this paragraph. 

Cli. 26 : 47-56. BRTRAYAL AND ARREST OF JESUS — 
Christ interprets and exemplifies his own teach- 
ing : of non-resistance to violence (Matt. 5 : 39-41): 
OF LOVE TO ENEMIES (Matt. 5 : 44) : OF CHEERFUL ful- 
fillment of the divine will (Matt. 6 : 10 ; 7 : 21 ; 
12 : 50). 

The arrest of Jesus is described by the four 
Evangelists, Mark 14 : 43-52 ; Luke 22 : 47-53 ; 
John 18 : 2-12. Matthew and John were eye-wit- 
nesses ; Mark is thought to have derived much 
of his information from Peter ; Luke's account is 
briefer than the others. John alone mentions 
the falling of the guard to the ground. Here, as 
throughout his Gospel, there are evidences that 
he wrote to supply what the other Evangelists 
omitted. The witnesses of this event had just 
been aroused from sleep ; their eyes were still 
heavy ; they were surprised, terrified, confused ; 
the discrepancies in their accounts are those of 
independent narrators ; they are not irreconcila- 
ble, but the exact order of events narrated is 
somewhat hypothetical. I think it to have been 
substantially as follows : Christ's prayer is broken 
in upon by the tramp of the approaching guard, 
and the gleaming of their lights as they issue 
from the gate of the city ; their approach, ob- 
served across the intervening brook Cedron, he 
interprets as God's final answer to his prayer — it 
is the divine will that he should drink the bitter 
cup. He proceeds to the entrance of the garden 
and arouses his disciples (ver. 46) ; Judas, who 
leads the band, draws near to kiss Jesus accord- 
ing to the pre-arranged signal ; is abashed by the 
Lord's reproachful question, "Betrayest thou 
the Son of man with a kiss ? " and makes no reply 
(ver. 49, 50; Luke 22:48) ; the band share his confu- 
sion, and under the influence of the superhuman 
majesty of our Lord, fall backward (John is : 4-6) ; 
the disciples emboldened, ask permission to re- 
sist (Luke 22: 49) ; and Peter, more impetuous than 
the rest, does not wait for an answer, but initiates 
the attack (ver. 51 ; join is : 10) ; Christ rebukes him 
(ver. 52-54) ; heals the wounded servant (Lute 22 : 51) ; 
and demands of the officers that they let the dis- 
ciples go their way ( John is : s) ; the disciples, for- 
bidden to resist, interpret this as a hint to escape, 



and flee (ver. 56) ; at the same time the officers, 
who have recovered from their momentary awe, 
proceed to bind Jesus (John is : 12), disregarding his 
dignified remonstrance against being treated as a 
thief (ver. 55). For a full understanding of all the 
elements in this midnight scene all the accounts 
should be carefully compared, but especially 
Matthew and John. See notes here and on 
John. 

47. And while he yet spake. He had 
barely time to arouse the disciples before Judas 
arrived ; not improbably their arrival awakened 
the eight, who were sleeping at or near the en- 
trance to the garden. — Judas, one of the 
twelve, came. There is s solemn significance 
in the fact that the three Synoptists all note that 
the betrayer was "one of the twelve." John 
(is : 1) explains Judas' knowledge of Christ's re- 
treat. — And with him a great multitude. 
A comparison of the various accounts shows the 
composition of this multitude. There were, (1) 
a police force from the temple. They are called 
in John 18 : 3, "officers from the chief priests 
and Pharisees," in Luke 22 : 52, " captains of the 
Temple." These were a portion of the Temple 
police, a strictly Jewish force, composed of 
Levites, and frequently referred to both in O. T. 

and N. T. history (2 Kings ll : 9 ; John 7 : 32 ; Acts 4 : 1-3). 

These were all armed with "staves," answering 
to the modern policeman's baton ; (2) a Roman 
force, furnished probably at the request of the 
Sanhedrim, by the Roman authorities. This is 
the "band " referred to in John 18 : 3-12. They 
were armed with a peculiar short sword, one- 
edged, defined here and in Mark as a machxera 
(udyuiQd). Our illustration, from an engraved 
gem, indicates its probable character ; (3) ser- 



the machxera. 

vants of the high-priest (ver. 51), who accompanied 
the band, perhaps to assist in the arrest, perhaps 
merely led by curiosity and that contagion of 
malice which induced their subsequent persecu- 
tion of Jesus (ver. 67 ; Mark 14 : 65) ; (4) certain of 
the priests and elders in person, to make sure of 
the consummation of the arrest (Luke 22 : 52). The 
force was provided with lanterns and torches 
(John 18 : 3, note) to search in any dark places in the 
garden. Judas preceded the guard (Luke 22 : 47). — 



296 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



50 And Jesus said unto him," Friend, wherefore art 
thou come ? Then came they and laid hands on 
Jesus, and took him. 

51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus 
stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck 
a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. 

52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy 



sword into his place : for ' all they that take the 
sword, shall perish with the sword. 

53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my 
Father, and he shall presently give me more than 
twelve legions of" angels ? 

54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, 
that v thus it must be ? 



. t Gen. 3:6; Ezek. 35 : 5, 6 ; Rev. 13 : 10 u ch. 4 : 1 1 ; 2 Kings 6:17; Dan. 7 : 9 v Luko 24 : 26, 43 



From the chief priests and elders. Mark 
adds "the scribes." Probably by this descrip- 
tion is intended the Sanhedrim, the chief judicial 
and legislative body of the Jews (.sea Prei. Note, p. 258.), 
though their act, in planning and ordering the 
arrest, may have been informal and unofficial. 
Comp. John 7 : 50, 51, where Nicodemus protests 
against a similar course of action, as illegal. 

48, 49. Gave them a sign. That is, had 
given them the sign previously. It was neces- 
sary, inasmuch as in the darkness Christ might 
be confounded, by the officers, with the disci- 
ples. The whole account indicates anxiety lest 

^he should escape as he had done before (John 7 : 45, 

46 ; 8 : 59 ; 10 : 39). — Hold him fast . Mark (14 : 44, 

note) says, "Lead him away securely." This fear 
of a rescue affords a singular evidence of the 
moral incapacity of Judas to understand the 
character of Jesus. The guards evidently shared 
his apprehensions or they would not have bound 
Jesus. But it is not so strange as the misappre- 
hension of the eleven, who actually asked per- 
mission to attempt such a rescue (Luke 22 : 49). 

49, 50. Hail, Rabbi; and kissed him. 
The kiss was a customary salutation amongst 
near relatives and friends, both in patriarchal 

and later times. (Gen. 27 : 26, 27 ; 29 : ll, 13 ; 33 : 4 ; 45 : 15 ; 
Exod. 4:27; 2 S3m. 15:5; 19:39; Rom. 16:16; 2 Cor. 13:12; 

i Thess. 5 : 26 ; i Pet. 5 : it). The treacherous kiss of 
Judas recalls that of Joab (2 Sam. 20 : 9, 10). — Com- 
rade. Not "friend.' 1 '' (irairie not <pllo$.) Christ 
never sacrificed truth to courtesy or convention- 
alism. This word, mistranslated " friend," occurs 
in the N. T. only here and in Matt. 20 : 13 ; 23 : 12 ; 
it conveys reproach. — Wherefore art thou 
come ? This is not asked for information, but 
as an appeal to the conscience of Judas. He 
replies with the treacherous kiss. Christ re- 
sponds with a final appeal, "Judas, betrayest 
thou the Son of man with a kiss ? " (Mark), but 
receives no answer. These are his last words to 
the apostate disciple. The incident recorded by 
John 18 : 4-9, I regard as occurring after this 
conference with Judas, who was in advance of 
the rest, and before the final seizure of Jesus by 
the band. 

51. One of them which were with Jesus. 
Mark's language is still more indefinite ; he says 
a "by-stander. " John alone gives the name of 
the assailant, Peter, and of the assailed, Malchus. 
The hypothesis is reasonable that the other 



Evangelists concealed the names, in order not to 
involve their co-disciple in danger from the 
Jewish authorities. John did not write until 
after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the 
Jewish authorities had no longer power to avenge 
this assault. We may reasonably surmise that 
Malchus was one of the foremost to lay hands 
on Jesus, and that Peter aimed the blow at his 
head, but was too impetuous to be sure-aimed. 
Christ healed the wound inflicted (Luke 22 : 51). 
Before this assault some of the disciples asked 
permission to resist (Luke 22 : 49), but Peter did not 
wait for the Lord's answer. The sword {uu/aiqu, 
machcera) was the short one-edged sword of which 
we have given an illustration above. 

52-54. Peculiar to Matthew. Parallel to these 
verses is John 18 : 11 ; "Put up thy sword into 
his sheath : the cup which my Father hath given 
me, shall I not drink it ? " Observe, the sword is 
Peter's, not his Lord's ; thy sword, not mine ; and 
the place of the Christian's sword is its sheath, 
from which he may draw it only at the divine 
command. — All they that take the sword 
shall perish with the sword. — Not a com- 
mand, as Alford interprets it ; so rendered it is 
self-contradictory, and would even justify Peter, 
who meant that Malchus, who had taken the 
sword of injustice, should perish by the sword 
of a just resistance and retribution ; not an un- 
qualified and absolute assertion, for it is not true 
of all, and the right to bear and use the sword is 
elsewhere distinctly recognized in the N. T. (Rom. 
13 : 4) ; but the statement of a general law, that 
violence begets violence, and that those who are 
most ready to resort to physical force for self- 
protection, are the most liable to suffer from it, 
while non-resistants are the least sufferers, a 
truth abundantly illustrated by the history of 
the Friends. — Twelve legions of angels. 
One each for Christ and the eleven. A legion, 
in the Roman army organization, consisted of 
6000. Compare Christ's declaration here with 
John 10 : 18 and with the language of his prayer 
in Gethsemane. The choice was still open to him 
to escape the Passion, to conquer his foes by 
force. But so he could not become the conquerer 
of "the world by the patience of love. His sub- 
mission was not a passive acquiescence in the 
inevitable, but a supreme choice to fulfill the 
Father's mission in the Father's way. — But 
how then shall the Scriptures be ful- 



Ch. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



297 



55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes. Are 
ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves 
for to take me ? I sat daily with you teaching in the 
temple, and ye laid no hold on me. 



56 But all this was done, that the scriptures " of the 
prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples for- 
sook him, and fled. 



Gen. 3 : 15 ; Ps. 22 : 1, etc. ; 69 : 1, etc. ; Isa. 53 : 3, etc. ; Lam. 4 : 20 ; Dan. 9 : 24, 26 ; Zech. 13 : 7 ; Acts 1 : 16. 



filled ? That is, How shall the divine will be 
fulfilled? for the Scriptures are the reflection of 
that will, and they had clearly disclosed that the 
world was to be conquered, not by irresistible 
might, but by suffering love (isaiahch. 53). The 
act of Peter exemplifies the folly of misdirected 
zeal. It was the only circumstance which could 
give any color to the charges afterward brought 
by the priests against Jesus before Pilate (Luke 
23 : 2, 5). Peter carries out in action the spirit 
which Christ had before rebuked in him (Matt. 
16 : 22, 23) and in his co-disciples James and John 

(Luke 9 : 54-56). 

55. Are ye come out as against a thief? 

Judas had cautioned the guard to lead Jesus 
away securely (Mark 14:44), and when they finally 
arrested him they bound him (John is : 12). This 
indignity, it appears to me, probably called forth 
the remonstrance of this verse. Compare the 
language of Luke 23 : 52, 53. — I sat daily with 
yon teaching in the Temple. The offence 
with which he was charged was one of teaching, 
not of robbery or violence ; it was open, public, 
unconcealed, and the time to arrest him was the 
time of his teaching ; he had neither hid himself 
nor surrounded himself with his followers for 
self-protection ; the indignity of this midnight 
arrest was, therefore, gratuitous. 



56. That the writings of the prophets 
might be fulfilled. Whether these words were 
uttered by Christ or added by Matthew, is un- 
certain. The fact that they are fouDd subse- 
quently in Mark's account renders the former 
hypothesis preferable. For prophecies referred 
to, consult marg. ref. — And they all forsook 
him and fled. But Peter, and probably John, 
only for a little way. Finding they were not 
pursued, they turned and followed the band to 
the high priest's house (John 18 • 15). 

Ch. 2G ; 57-68. TRIAL OF JESTTS BEFORE CAIAPHAS 
AN"D THE COTJSCIL. — Wicked ends beset wicked 

INSTRUMENTS. — CHEIST SOUGHT MAN'S LITE ; MAN 

sought Christ's death.— The common cause or 
slander (ver. 61, with John 2 : 19, 21). — The best 
answer to slander— silence (ver. 63). — Christ's 
solemn testimony to his own divine nature and 
mission (ver. 64). — ''Despised and rejected op 
men " (ver. 67, 68). 

Preliminary Note. — Harmony of the narra- 
tives. The N. T. certainly records three, possibly 
four, distinct judicial or quasi-judicial examina- 
tions of Jesus prior to his crucifixion. The con- 
trast in the four Gospel narratives appears from 
the following tabular view. Matthew and Mark 
differ only verbally. 



Matt. 26 : 57 to 27 : 2. Mark 14 : 53 to 15 : 1. 

Jesus is led to Caiaphas' 
palace, the council assembles, 
witnesses are summoned, a 
trial proceeds, Jesus is con- 
victed, the denial of Peter oc- 
curs, whether at the same time 
and place is not clear, the con- 
viction is followed by insults 
and buffetings,and by a second 
council (27 : 1) to insure the 
execution of the sentence pro- 
nounced ; thence Jesus is led 
away to Pilate. 



Luke 22 : 54-71. 

Jesus is led to the high 
priest's palace, Peter denies 
him, he is insulted aud buf- 
feted, but no formal trial is re- 
ported until at daybreak the 
Sanhedrim is assembled, and 
Christ is led to it ; the trial 
takes place, he is convicted 
and at once conducted to Pi- 
late (23 : 1). 



John 18 : 13-27. 

Jesus is taken tothehouse of 
Annas, a preliminary exami- 
nation ensues, whether at the 
house of Annas or Caiaphas is 
Dot clear ; during this prelimi- 
nary examination, the denial 
by Peter takes place, and 
thence Christ is led to Pilate. 
There is no report of a formal 
trial by the Sanhedrim. 



It is evident from a comparison of these reports 
that with our imperfect knowledge we cannot be 
certain as to the order of the events described, 
and equally evident that there is no necessary or 
irreconcilable inconsistency. Some scholars sup- 
pose that the examination reported in John 
18 : 19-23 took place before Annas, was followed 
by an informal trial in the palace of Caiaphas 
(Matt. 26 : 57-6s), succeeded by a formal trial at 



daybreak (27 : 1), the latter being described by 
Luke (22 : 66-71) ; others suppose that Jesus was 
sent at once from Annas to Caiaphas, that the 
preliminary examination described in John took 
place in the palace of Caiaphas while the Sanhe- 
drim was assembling, was followed by a second 
examination before the Council reported by Mat- 
thew, which was in turn succeeded by a formal 
trial and sentence hinted at in Matthew 27 : 1, 



298 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



but more fully reported in Luke 21 : 66-71 ; still 
others suppose, and this appears to me the more 
natural and probable supposition, that Matthew, 
Mark and Luke report, though in a different 
form, the same proceedings, and that the real 
order of events was probably substantially as 
follows : Christ was first led to the house of 
Annas, the leading spirit of the priestly party ; 
thence at once to the house of Caiaphas, where 
the examination described by John took place, 
and the denial by Peter, recorded by all the Evan- 
gelists ; meanwhile the Sanhedrim had assem- 
bled, and the formal trial was had as described 
by Matthew, Mark and Luke, though whether 
in the palace of Caiaphas or the council-chamber 
adjoining the Temple (Luke 22 : 66, note) is uncertain, 
as is also the question whether the buffetings and 
insults took place after the formal condemnation 
as implied by Matthew, or during the prelimi- 
nary examination as implied by Luke, or twice. 
According to this view the meeting of the San- 
hedrim referred to in Matthew 27 : 1, was not a 
trial but a private conference to determine on the 
necessary measures to secure the execution of 
the death sentence agreed upon. The reasons 
for this opinion will partly appear in the notes 
hereafter. See especially on ver. 59 ; ch. 27 : 1 ; 
Luke 22 : 67-70 ; John 18 : 24. 

The trial. The court convened to try Jesus 
Christ was the Sanhedrim or Sanhedrin. The 
origin of this assembly is traced in the Mishna 
to the seventy elders whom Moses associated 
with him in the government of Israel (Numb. 11 : 16), 
but this is doubtful. It is now more generally 
thought to have arisen subsequent to the Mace- 
donian supremacy in Palestine. It consisted of 
chief priests; that is, the heads of the twenty-four 
priestly classes ; scribes, that is, rabbis learned in 
the literature of the church ; and elders, who were 
chosen from amongst the most influential of the 
laity. Hence a common designation in the N. T. 
is ' ' chief priests and scribes, " or " elders and chief 
priests and scribes," or " chief priests and elders " 
(Matt. 2:4; 16:21; 27 : 1). Jewish tradition puts the 
number of members at seventy-one. The high 
priest usually presided ; the vice-president sat 
at his right hand. The other councillors were 
ranged in front of these two in the form of a 
semicircle. Two scribes or clerks attended, who 
on criminal trials registered the votes, one for 
acquittal, the other for condemnation. The place 
in which the sessions of the Sanhedrim were or- 
dinarily held was, according to the Talmud, a 
hall called Gazzith, supposed to have been situa- 
ted in the south-east corner of one of the courts 
near the Temple building. The language of 
Luke (22 : 66, note) indicates that the trial of Jesus 
was held in this council-chamber. The Sanhe- 
drim had lawful and exclusive jurisdiction in all 
cases where capital punishment could be inflicted, 



although the power of inflicting capital punish- 
ment had been taken from them by the Romans 
(John is : si, note). If, as I suppose, this trial took 
place after Peter's denial, the hour is fixed by 
the cock crowing at about four o'clock ; the day 
Friday, April 7, a.d. 30. 

Methods of procedure. The Jewish methods of 
judicial procedure are fully given in the Rab- 
binical books. Their rules constitute an elabo- 
rate and on the whole a merciful code. The 
court could not be convened by night ; the ac- 
cused could not be condemned on his own con- 
fession ; two witnesses were necessary to secure 
sentence of death ; these witnesses must be 
examined in the presence of the accused ; he 
had the opportunity of cross-examination ; a 
perjurer was liable to the penalty which would 
have been visited in case of conviction upon the 
prisoner ; the latter had a right to be heard in 
his own defence ; a verdict could not be ren- 
dered on the same day as the trial, nor on a 
feast-day ; the discovery of new evidence, even 
after the preparations for execution had com- 
menced, entitled the condemned to a new hear- 
ing. These rules were utterly disregarded in 
this trial. The letter of the law forbidding 
night trials was observed (Luke 22 : ee), but its 
spirit was violated by a midnight examination 
and a hasty trial in the twilight of the dawn. A 
quorum of the court was present, but it was 
convened with haste so great, and with notice so 
inadequate, that one at least of the most influen- 
tial friends of Jesus had apparently no opportu- 
nity to participate in its deliberations (Luke 2s : si ; 
22 : 70, ami Mark 14 : 64). Witnesses were summoned, 
and discrepancies in their testimony were noted ; 
but the just and reasonable rule requiring the 
concurrent testimony of two was openly and 
almost contemptuously disregarded. An oppor- 
tunity was formally offered Jesus to be heard in 
his own behalf, but no adequate time was af- 
forded him to secure witnesses or prepare for 
his defence, and the spirit of the court denied 
him audience, though its formal rules permitted 
him a hearing. Finally, all other means of se- 
curing his conviction having failed, in violation 
alike of law and justice, he was put under oath 
and required, in defiance of his protest, to bear 
testimony against himself. The law requiring 
a day's deliberation was openly set aside, and 
with haste as unseemly as it was illegal, the 
prisoner was sentenced and executed within 
less than twelve hours after his arrest, within 
less than six after the formal trial. 

The sentence and its significance. The crime of 
which Jesus Christ was accused and found 
guilty, and for which he was sentenced to death 
by the Sanhedrim, was blasphemy (see ver. 65. Comp. 
John 19 : 7). This was a well recognized and 
clearly defined crime among the Jews. It con- 



Oh. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



299 



57 And x they that had laid hold on Jesus led him 
away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes 
and the elders were assembled. 

58 But Peter followed him afar off, unto the high 
priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, 
to see the end. 



59 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the 
council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him 
to death : 

60 But found none: yea, though many false wit- 
nesses came, yet found they none. At the >" last came 
two false witnesses, 



x Mark 14 : 53, etc. ; Lake 22 : 54, etc. ; John 18 ; 12, etc y Ps. 27 : 12 : 35 : 11. 



sisted of any act which tended to turn the hearts 
of the people from Jehovah, who was both their 
God and their King. This was not. only irreli- 
gion, but treason, and was punishable with 

death (Exod. 22 : 20 ; Numb. 25 : 1-5 ; Deut. 13 : 1-5 ; 18 : 9-20 ; 

see Matt. 12 : 32, note). Illustrations of this crime and 
its fruits are afforded by Numbers 16 : 1-K) ; 
1 Kings 18 : 17-40. Jesus was accused of blasphe- 
my because he had proclaimed himself to be equal 
with God, and had claimed and received divine 
honors. To this accusation there were but two 
possible defences ; one that he had made no such 
claim, the other that he was indeed the Jehovah 
of the O. T. manifested in the flesh, and being a 
new revelation, the supplement and completion 
of the old. On this trial he took the latter 
course. Put under oath, called on to declare in 
the most solemn manner his position and claims, 
he asserted that the charge that he had pro- 
claimed himself the Son of God was true, and 
that the assertion itself was true. Thus his 
declaration (ver. 64, note) of his Divine Sonship con- 
stitutes Christ's solemn testimony to himself, 
uttered at the momentous crisis of his life, under 
the solemn sanction of an oath, in the course of 
judicial proceedings, in the presence of the 
highest council of the realm, in the far more 
sacred presence of God and his recording angels, 
at the peril of his life, and with a clear compre- 
hension of the meaning which not only priests 
and people would attach to it, but with which it 
would be forever invested by humanity. If it 
had not been true it would have been blasphemy. 
"It is not ftasy," says one of America's most- 
distinguished jurists, Prof. Greenleaf, "to con- 
ceive on what ground his (Christ's) conduct 
could have been defended before any tribunal, 
except upon that of his superhuman character. 
No lawyer, it is conceived, would think of plac- 
ing his defence upon any other basis." See, for 
a fuller description of the trial and a fuller 
statement of this question and the Scripture 
passages bearing upon it, Abbott's Jesus of Naza- 
reth, chaps. 33, 35. 

57. Led him away to Caiaphas. First, 
however, to Annas, by whom he was sent to 
Caiaphas (John is : 13, 24). He was the son-in-law 
of Annas, was appointed high-priest by the Ro- 
man Procurator about 27 a. d., held the office 
during the whole administration of Pilate, was 
deposed 36 or 37 a. d. He had predetermined 
the death of Jesus (John n : so). Both Annas and 



Caiaphas were creatures of the Roman court ; 
both belonged to the Saddusaic party ; both, 
that is, were openly infidel concerning some of 
the fundamental truths of the Hebrew faith. — 
Were assembled. In preparation for the 
trial. They had planned the arrest (Matt. 26 : 3-5, 
14, 15), and had furnished the temple guard to 
consummate it (John 18 : 3). 

58. Peter followed him afar otf. This 
has been the text for many a denunciation of 
Peter ; but he could not have followed in any 
other way. His fault, if any, was for following 
at all. — Unto the courtyard of the high- 
priest. Not the palace, but the open courtyard 
around which the palace was built (ver. 69, note). — 
To see the end, i. e., what the end would be. 
Curiosity, not devotion, led him into danger. 

59. All the council. This seems to indi- 
cate that Matthew is describing a meeting of the 
entire Sanhedrim, and hence probably the for- 
mal and official trial of Jesus. If so, the pre- 
liminary examination before Caiaphas, and Pe- 
ter's accompanying denial of his Master (John 18 : 
13-27), took place between ver. 58 and 59 here, 
and Matthew goes back from his description of 
the trial to describe subsequently, and out of its 
chronological order, Peter's denials (ver. 69-75). — 
To put him to death. Not to ascertain the 
truth, but to destroy one whom they considered 
a personal enemy, was this trial conducted (John 

5 : 18 ; 7 : 19, 25 ; 8 : 37, 40 ; 11 : 50). 

60. But found none. That agreed together. 
Two witnesses were required by Jewish law for 

Conviction (Dent. 19:15; John 8:17; 2 Cor. 13 : l). The 

charge against Jesus of declaring himself the 
Son of God and so making himself equal with 
God (John 10 : 3s) was one which it was impossible 
to substantiate by any witnesses outside the im- 
mediate circle of Christ's disciples, for his min- 
istry had been one of singularly commingled 
boldness and caution — boldness in the truths he 
uttered, caution in the methods of his utterance. 
He never publicly proclaimed himself the Mes- 
siah. He forbade the evil spirits from announ- 
cing his character (Mark i: 34). He received the 
confession of his disciples, but refused to permit 
them to repeat it to others (Matt. 16 : 20). Interro- 
gated by the Jews whether he was the Christ, 
he had refused a direct reply, and had referred 
them to his works (John 10 : 24, 25, note). He had 
given the same response to the public questioning 
of John's disciples. In most of his later ministry 



300 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



61 And said, This fellow said, 2 1 am able to destroy 
the temple of God, and to build it in three days. 

62 And the high priest arose, and said unto him, An- 
swerest thou nothing ? What is it which these wit- 
ness against thee ? 

63 But a Jesus held his peace. And the high priest 
answered and said unto him, I adjure" thee by the liv- 



ing God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, 
the Son of God. 

64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said ; neverthe- 
less 1 say unto you, Hereafter 11 shall ye see the Son of 
man sitting on the right hand e of power, and coming 
in the clouds of heaven. 



z John 2 : 19-21. 



.a chau. 27 : 12, 14 : Isa. 53 : 7 b 1 Sam. 14 : '. 

John 1:51; 1 Thess. 4:16; Re 



, 28 ; 1 Kingn 22 : 1 
1:7 e Ps. 110 



6.... c chap. 16 : 16; John 1 : 34. 
1 : Acts 7 : 56. 



.d Dan. 7 : 13 ; 



he had veiled his meaning in parables, which re- 
vealed the truth to honest inquirers, but hid it 
from his foes. "Probably no two witnesses could 
be found out of the ranks of the disciples who 
had ever heard out of his own lips an avowal of 
his Messiahship." (Andrew's Life of Christ, p. 
501.) In John 4 : 26 and 9 : 37, the declaration 
of his Messiahship was made to docile believers 
if not to actual followers. 

61. I am able to destroy the Temple of 
God, etc. Observe in reference to this charge, 
(1) that Christ had not said so, he had said (John 
2:19) that the Jews would destroy the temple, 
which he would restore ; (2) that they under- 
stood, at least partially, that he had referred 
to his own body (Matt. 27 : 40, 63) ; (3) that in their 
testimony these false-witnesses did not agree 
(Mark 14 : 53) ; the nature of their discrepancy is, 
perhaps, indicated by the variations in the testi- 
mony as reported by Matthew and Mark ; (4) 
even if he had used the words attributed to him 
they would have formed no ground for a death- 
sentence. The charge illustrates the growth of 
calumny. "False evidence takes up some truth ; 
and a great calumny can often be made by no 
great change of words." — (Bengel.) Observe, 
too, that Scripture imputes falsehood to those 
who pervert the truth as well as to those who 
invent a lie. 

62, 63. And the high-priest arose. An- 
gered by the failure of the prosecution and by 
the stinging rebuke of Christ's silence. By 
that silence he eloquently condemned the preju- 
dice of the court and declared his own conviction 
of the uselessness of defending himself before it. 
— Jesus held his peace. The best answer 
to wilful calumny is ordinarily silence.' — I adjure 
thee by the living God. An ordinary formula 

Of administering an Oath. (Sec Gen. 24 : 3, Jahn's Bib. 

Archaeology.) By this act, therefore, the high-priest 
put Christ under oath to testify concerning 
his own claim and character. The high-priest's 
action was illegal, since by Rabbinical laws the 
accused could not be condemned on his own 
confession. Comparing Luke's account (22: 67-71) 
it appears that Christ first protested against the 
illegality, that his protest was overborne by a 
clamorous demand from all the members of the 
court, and that to this demand Christ acceded by 
giving the testimony recorded in the following 
verse. Thus he literally fulfilled his declaration, 



" I lay down my life ; no man taketh it from me, 
but I lay it down of myself " (John 10 : 17, is.) — The 
Messiah, the Son of God. These phrases are 
not used by the high-priest as synonymous. In 
Luke's account they are represented as embodied 
in two questions (Luke 22 : 67, 70). The O. T. prophets 
indicate that the Messiah was to be in a peculiar 

Sense the Son Of God (Psalm 2 : 7 ; 45 : 6, 7 ; Isaiah 7 : 14 ; 9 : 6 ; 

Micah 5 : 2). But it is clear from Jewish Rabbinical 
writings, from the treatment accorded to Jesus, 
and from the ready facility with which false 
Christs were at this time and a little later received 
by the Jews, that they did not generally believe 
that their Messiah would be other than a great 
prophet and a king, coming to achieve victory for 
the nation. The demand of the high-priest here 
is, therefore, twofold. He asks : Dost thou claim 
to be the Messiah ? Dost thou claim to be the 
Son of God ? To both questions Christ replies, 
using language singularly explicit in defining the 
sense in which he claims to be the Son of God. 
The language of the succeeding verse utterly 
forbids our interpreting this phrase when applied 
to Christ as parallel to its use when applied 
to ourselves, e. g., 1 John 3 : 1. 

64. Thou hast said. A Jewish form of 
affirmation equivalent to "I am " (Mark u ■■ 62). It 
is found also in ordinary Greek ; e. g., " Thou thy- 
self, said he, sayest this, Oh Socrates" (Xenophon's 
Memorabilia, Book III.) A simple assent to the 
question in the case of the Jewish oath sufficed 
(see Numb. 5 : 22). Christ, however, adds a solemn de- 
claration of his future coming as a divine Judge. 
— Nevertheless. Rather, more than that (TtXfjv), 
i. e., not only am I the Messiah and the Son of God, 
but I shall come hereafter to judge the world. — 
Hereafter. Literally henceforth, i. e., from this 
time forward, including also, the far future.- 
The time of Christ's humiliation draws to its 
end, and with his resurrection commences his era 
of glory and power, consummated at the judg- 
ment-day (1 Cor. 15 : 24-28). — The Son of Man. A 
common appellation of the Messiah, borrowed 
by Christ from Daniel and used by him to desig- 
nate himself (see Matt. io : 23, note). — On the right 
hand of power. Equivalent to "power of 
God " (Luke 22 : 69). "The Hebrews often called 
God, Power." — (Bengel.) Comp. Psalm 110:1. 
— And coming in the clouds of heaven. 
For judgment (Matt. 25 : 31 ; John 5 : 27). Observe the 
contrast in this verse between the present and 



Oh. XXVI.] 



MATTHEW. 



301 



65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He 
hath spoken blasphemy ; what further need have we of 
witnesses ? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 

66 What think ye ? They answered and said, He is 
guilty of death/ 



67 Then e did they spit in his fa-e, and buffeted him ; 
and others smote him with the palms of their hands, 

68 Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he 
that smote thee ? 



f Lev. 24 : 16 ; John ]9 : 7 g Isa. 50 : 6. 



the future. They now sitting to judge him, 
he will then sit to judge them ; they are now 
strong and he apparently weak, then he will sit 
on the right hand of power and they will call in 
vain on the mountains and rocks to hide them 
(Rev. 6 : 16). " As the Passion advances, its amaz- 
ing contrasts grow in affecting interest. The 
Deliverer in bonds ; the Judge attainted ; the 
Prince of Glory scorned ; the Holy One con- 
demned for sin ; the Son of God as a blasphe- 
mer ; the Resurrection and the Life sentenced to 
die. The Eternal High-Priest is condemned by 
the high -priest of that year." — (Stier.) On the 
significance of Christ's testimony here to him- 
self, see Prel. Note. 

65. Then the high-priest rent his clothes. 
This was a common Jewish sign of grief. Of 
rending clothes at hearing blasphemy, see an 
illustration in 2 Kings 18 : 87 ; 19:1. Lightfoot 
quotes from the Rabbinical books the rule " when 
witnesses speak out the blasphemy which they 
heard, then all, hearing the blasphemy, are 
bound to rend their clothes." The rending of 
clothes was ordinarily forbidden to the high- 
priest (Lev. 10 : 6), but the prohibition probably 
applied only to private mourning. His act here 
may have been a natural expression of abhor- 
rence at what he sincerely regarded as language 
of blasphemy. More probably it was a simulated 
and theatrical expression for the purpose of 
producing an effect upon the court. — He hath 
spoken blasphemy. By claiming to be the 
Son of God. On the nature of blasphemy under 
the Jewish law, see Prel. Note and ref. there. — 
He is liable to death. The Jewish law 
made it a capital offence to turn the people away 
from allegiance to the true God (Deut. 13 : 1-5). Of 
this Christ was accused, and for this condemned 
to die (John 19 : 7). In fact, however, the doctrine 
of the divinity of Christ has not weakened but 
strengthened the allegiance of the human race 
to the Father (John 14 : 6 ; pmi. 2 : 11). Quesnel's 
practical commentary on this sentence is note- 
worthy. "The Author of Life, and Life eternal 
itself, is then judged worthy of death ; and can 
we complain after this of the injustice of human 
judgments as to ourselves? " 

67, 68. Buffeted him. The original 
(y.oXacpli^ta) signifies to strike With the fist. — 
Smote him with the palms of their hands. 
The original ((tanl^cj) signifies in Scripture usage 
to strike a flat blow with the back or the palm of 



the hand, or with a staff. Comp. Matt. 5 : 39, where 
the verb is the same. — Saying, Prophesy unto 
us. They had first blindfolded him (Luke 22 : 64). 
These indignities were inflicted, not by the mem- 
bers of the court, but by the servants (Mark 14 : 65 ; 
Luke 22 1 64), who doubtless reflected in a meaner 
way the vindictive spirit of their masters. Luke 
represents them as preceding, Matthew and 
Mark as following, the sentence of the court. * 
The former appears to me more probable. The 
blow struck by the officer of the high-priest, 
and narrated by John only (eh. is : 22), is distinct 
from these indignities. Chrysostom notes the 
evident truthfulness of the Evangelical narra- 
tives, which conceal nothing of the apparent 
humiliation of their Lord. Such is not the na- 
ture of a myth. He eloquently portrays the 
indignity: "For what could be equal to this 
insolence '? On that Face, which the sea, when 
it saw it, had reverenced, from which the sun, 
when it beheld it on the cross, turned away his 
rays, they did spit, and struck it with the palms 
of their hands, and smote upon the Head ; giv- 
ing full swing in every way to their own mad- 
ness." 

Ch. 26 ; 69-75, DENIALS OF OUK LORD BY PETER.— 
The danger of self-confidence (Prov. 11 : 2). — The 
growth of sin illustrated (James 1 : 14, 15).— See 
Thoughts below. 

Preliminary Note. — The denial of our Lord 
by Peter is recorded by the four Evangelists, 
Mark 14 : 66-72 ; Luke 22 : 54-62 ; John 18 : 
15-17, 25-27. I believe that they all occurred as 
indicated in John's account, during an informal 
examination of Jesus in the house of Caiaphas. 
For greater distinctness, the three Synoptists 
have described it disentangled from this contem- 
poraneous examination. If this supposition be 
correct, it preceded the formal trial of Jesus by 
the Sanhedrim, as is indicated by Luke, though 
narrated subsequently by Matthew and Mark. 
The four accounts are varied in their details, 
and scholars are not agreed in respect to their 
true order. Any harmony is of necessity hypo- 
thetical, though I believe with Dean Alford that 
"if for one moment we could be put in posses- 
sion of all the details as they happened, each ac- 
count would find its justification, and the rea- 
sons of all the variations would appear." The 
following tabular statement will facilitate the 
student in comparing these four narratives : 



302 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVI. 



FIKST DENIAL. 



Matthew 26 : 69-75. 

And Peter sat without 
in the hall, and a maid 
came to him, saying, 
"Thou also wast with Je- 
sus of Galilee." But he 
denied before them all, 
saying, " I know not what 
thou sayest." And when 
he had gone out into the 
porch, 



Another damsel saw 
him, and saith to those 
who were there, " This 
one also was with Jesus 
the Nazarene." And again 
he denied with an oath, 
" I do not know the 
man." 



And after a while came 
unto him they that stood 
by, and said to Peter, 
" Surely thou also art 
one of them ; for thy 
speech makes thee mani- 
fest." Then began he to 
curse and to swear, say- 
ing, " I know not the 
man." And immediately 
the cock crew. And Pe- 
ter remembered the word 
of Jesus which said unto 
him, '• Before the cock 
crow, thou shalt deny me 
thrice." And he went out 
and wept bitterly. 



Mark 14 : 66-72. 
And as Peter was down 
in the hall, there cometh 
one of the maids of the 
high-priest ; and when she 
saw Peter warming him- 
self, she looked upon him 
and said, "Thou also 
wast with Jesus the Naz- 
arene." But he denied, 
saying, " I know not, 
neither understand I what 
thou sayest." And he 
went out into the porch, 
and the cock crew. 



Luke 22 : 64-62. 

And when they had kin- 
dled a fire in the midst 
of the hall, and were set 
down together, Peter sat 
down among them. But 
a certain maid beheld him 
as he sat by the fire, and 
earnestly looked upon 
him, and said, " This man 
was also with him." And 
he denied, saying, " Wo- 
man, I know him not." 



SECOND DENIAL. 



And a maid saw him, 
and began to say to those 
standing by, " This is one 
of them." But he again 
denied it. 



And after a short time 
another (masculine gen- 
der) saw him, and said, 
" Thou art also of them." 
And Peter said, "Man, I 
am not." 



THIED DENIAL. 



And a little while after 
they that stood by said 
again to Peter, " Surely 
thou art one of them ; for 
thou art a Galilean " (and 
thy speech agreeth thereto 
is not in the best manu- 
scripts). And he began 
to curse and to swear, 
saying, " I know not this 
man of whom ye speak." 
And the second time the 
cock crew. And Peter 
called to mind the words 
that Jesus said unto him, 
"Before the cock crow 
twice, thou shalt deny me 
thrice." And rushing 
out, he wept. 



And about the space 
of one hour after, another 
(masculine gender) confi- 
dently affirmed, saying, 
" Of a truth this man also 
was with him ; for he is a 
Galilean." And Peter 
said, "Man, I know not 
what thou sayest." And 
immediately, while he was 
yet speaking, the cock 
crew. And the Lord 
turned and looked at Pe- 
ter, and Peter remem- 
bered the word of the 
Lord, how he had said 
unto him, " Before the 
cock crow, thou shalt deny 
me thrice." And Peter 
went out and wept bit- 
terly. 



John 18 : 15-27. 

Another disciple, who 
was known to the high- 
priest (probably John), 
came into the hall, leaving 
Peter at the gate without. 
He spoke to the maid who 
kept the gate, and she ad- 
mitted Peter. And she 
saith to him, " Art not 
thou also one of this man's 
disciples?" He saith, "I 
am not." 



And the servants and 
officers, having made a 
fire of coals because it was 
cold, stood there warming 
themselves, and Peter 
was with them, standing 
and warming himself. 
They said, therefore, to 
him, " Art not thou also 
one of his disciples ? " 
He denied it, and said, " I 
am not." 



One of the servants of 
the high-priest (being his 
kinsman whose ear Peter 
cut off) saith to him, 
"Did not I see thee in 
the garden with him?" 
Again, therefore, Peter 
denied. And immediate- 
ly a cock crew. 



If, as is probably the case, John is " that other 
disciple known to the high-priest" (johnis: 15, ie), 
he is the only one of the Evangelists who was an 
eye and ear witness, and this fact would render 
it probable that his order is the correct one ; 
though it is not the one usually adopted by the 
harmonists. May he not have written it in part 
to correct accounts which were derived at second- 
hand ? Following his account the facts would 
appear to be as follows : Jesus is led to the palace 



of the high-priest Caiaphas, where he is subjected 
to a preliminary and informal examination while 
the Sanhedrim are assembling ; Peter, whose re- 
sistance to the guard has rendered him legally 
liable to arrest and punishment, and who is the 
only one of the eleven who is so (comp. John is : 10 
with ver. 26), is admitted to the courtyard of the 
palace (ver. 69, note) through the influence of John ; 
as he enters, the portress asks him if he is not a 
disciple, and he denies it ; he joins the group 



Oh. XXVL] 



MATTHEW. 



303 



60 Now" Peter sat without in the palace: and a 
damsel came unto him, saying, Thou abo wast with 
Tesus of Galilee. 

7 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not 
what thou sayest. 

71 And when he was gone out into the porch, an- 



other maid saw him, and said unto them that were 
there, Tnis fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. 

72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know 
the man. 

73 And after a while came unto him they that stood 
by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them ; 
tor tny speech bewrayetu tr.ee. 



h Mark 14 : 66, etc. ; Luke 22 : 55, etc. ; John 18 : 16, etc. 



about the fire in the centre of the courtyard, is 
a second time interrogated and a second time 
denies ; he then retreats again to the gateway, 
is again pressed with the charge, this time by a 
kinsman of Malchus, and repeats his denial more 
vehemently than before ; just at this juncture 
Jesus is perhaps led out to trial, his look (Luke 
22:61) and the crowing of the cock, recalls Peter 
to himself, and in the confusion incidental to the 
transference of the prisoner to the council-cham- 
ber, he makes good his escape. This order of 
events seems to me more natural than to sup- 
pose, as is ordinarily done, that Peter first denied 
his Lord in the courtyard, then retreated to the 
door and repeated his denial, and then returned 
again to the centre of the yard, courting anew 
danger and temptation. The order, however, is 
problematical ; the main facts are not. These 
are, that Peter thrice denied his Lord, the last 



time at cock crowing, followed his sin by repent- 
ance (not, however, mentioned by John), the 
circumstances exactly fulfilling our Lord s proph- 
ecy ; and that he fell into his sin from a spirit of 
self-confidence, from a want of prayer and watch- 
ing, and from a disregard of his Lord's warning. 
The variations in the narratives are such as we 
might expect from independent historians, but 
it is impossible to reconcile them with the hy- 
pothesis that the accounts were dictated by the 
Holy Spirit to the Evangelists as amanuenses. 
It is noticeable that Peter was questioned by a 
number (Mark w : 70 : John is : 25), and Peter's denials 
were reiterated and vehement ; the variations in 
the language, as reported by the Evangelists, 
may indicate either that they do not report the 
exact words used, or that different Evangelists 
report different phrases employed. 
69. Peter was sitting without in the 




\a\ 



P a o G a B 



D _L' 
a 



Area or 
open Court - 



-* c r-T« 



■\ei\- 






INTERIOR COURTYARD OF ORIENTAL HOUSE. 



PLAN OF ORIENTAL HOUSE, 
a, a. Doors. B. Porch. C. Harem. 
D, D. Other rooms. E. E. Galleries 
between court and rooms. F. Stairs. 



courtyard. Of the high-priest's house (Mark 
u : 54). The denials could not, therefore, have 
taken place in the palace of Annas, unless Annas 
and Caiaphas occupied the same dwelling. An 
Oriental house is usually built around a quad- 
rangular interior court into which there is a pas- 
sage, sometimes arched, from the street, through 
the front part of the house ; this is closed by a 
heavy folding gate with a smaller wicket for 
single persons. This entrance is tended by a 
a porter (answering to the French concierge) who 
in this case was a maid (john is : n). In the larger 
palaces this servant sat in a porter's lodge at 



the entrance. The courtyard was very generally 
paved or flagged, and was sometimes ornamented 
with beds of flowers and was open to the sky. 
The accompanying cut and plan illustrates this 
description. Peter entered through the arched. 
gateway a, a, warmed himself at an open fire, 
kindled in the courtyard, in a portable stove 
(see John is : 18, note), from which point he could 
probably see and partially overhear the prelimi- 
nary examination of Jesus, taking place in one 
of the rooms d, d, which frequently open in 
front upon the courtyard. 
70-74. I know not what thou sayest. 



304 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVI. 



74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I 
know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. 



75 And Peter remembered the ' word of Jesus, which 
said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny 
me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly. 



i verse 34 ; Luke 22 : 31-34. 



"A shuffling answer; he pretended he did not 
understand the charge, and knew not whom she 
meant by Jesus of Galilee, or what she meant by 
being with him." — (Matthew Henry.)— Gone out 
into the porch. The gateway or vestibule 
marked in the plan, b. — With an oath. Perhaps 
Peter the fisherman was a profane man, and in the 
time of temptation the old habit, long cast off, re- 
asserted itself. That lie possessed originally the 
vices common to a seafaring life is perhaps in- 
dicated by Luke 5 : 8. — Thy speech bewrayeth 
thee. Makes thee manifest. The Galilean ac- 
cent was peculiar ; the Galileans could not pro- 
nounce accurately the gutturals. The kinsman 
of Malchus, whose ear Peter had cut off, joined 
his accusers at this time (John is : 26). Evidently 
he was now beset by a throng whose suspicions 
could not be easily allayed. Comp. the four 
accounts of this last scene. — To curse and to 
swear. The first word indicates that he invoked 
imprecations upon himself if his denial were not 
true. The second word signifies an appeal to 
the Deity in attestation of his truth. Matthew 
Henry observes that " we have reason to suspect 
the truth of that which is backed by rash oaths 
and imprecations. None but the devil's sayings 
need the devil's proofs." — The cock crew. 
Mark relates that the cock crowed twice, vers. 
68, 72 ; the others speak only of his crowing 
once. This accords also with their respective ac- 
counts of our Lord's prophecy. " The cock often 
crows about midnight or not long after ; and 
again always about the third hour or daybreak. 
When, therefore, ' the cock crowing ' is spoken 
of alone, this last is always meant. Hence the 
name cock crowing, for the third watch of the 
night, which ended at the third hour after mid- 
night (Mark 13 • 35). Mark, therefore, here relates 
more definitely; the others more generally." — 
(Robinson. ) The O. T. does not mention the cock, 
and it is said, on the authority of the Rabbinical 
books, that no cock was allowed to be kept in 
Jerusalem. But (1) the Rabbinical books are 
very doubtful authority on such a matter. They 
state with tolerable accuracy the rules of the 
Jewish ritualists, but are poor authority for the 
practices of the Jewish people ; and (2) the 
cock crowing might have been heard from the 
hillside outside the walls, over against Jerusa- 
lem. 

75. Peter remembered the word of Je- 
sus (ver. 34). He was called to himself by the 
crowing of the cock and by a look from Jesus 

(Luke 22 : 6l). 



Lessons fkom Peter's Denial. — In studying 
the moral significance of this incident, observe, 
(1) Peter's temptation, (2) his sin, (3) his repent- 
ance. (1.) His temptation. He is ardent, impul- 
sive, impetuous, but self-confident, knowing not 
his own weakness. He is forewarned by Christ, 
but is blind to his own danger. He follows his 
Master to the high-priest's palace, not drawn 
by love to serve his Lord, but by curiosity and 
perhaps bravado to see the end (ver. 58, note). Be- 
cause he is self-confident, he does not watch and 
pray (ver. 40) ; because he does not watch and 
pray, he does not foresee the temptation ; be- 
cause he has not foreseen, he enters into tempta- 
tion. (2.) His sue. Observe its development. 
First was the self-confidence which despised 
Christ's warning (ver. 35) ; next the spiritual sloth 
that permitted sleep while Christ prayed (vers. 40, 
43, 45) ; next the false position in entering the 
high-priest's palace and joining the enemies of 
the Lord, concealing his discipleship ; next his 
denial of his Lord — first an evasive answer, I 
know not what thou sayest ; then a flat denial, I 
know not the man ; finally perjury added to 
falsehood, Began he to curse and to swear. (3. ) 
His repentance. His conscience was throughout 
uneasy ; the crowing of a cock and the look of 
his Lord sufficed to recall the forgotten warn- 
ing, and the recall of the Lord's warning pierced 
his heart. He "went out into the black night, 
but not, as Judas, into the darkness of despair. 
Weeping bitterly, he awaited the dawn of an- 
other and a better morning." — (Lange.) His 
repentance he attested (a) by the bitterness of 
his tears ; (6) by his humble submission to his 
Lord's subsequent rebuke (John 21 : 16-17) ; (e) by 
his subsequent courage in confessing Christ in 
the face of threatened danger (Acts 4 : 8-12, 19) ; (d) 
by the thoroughness with which he learned the 
lesson of humility, as illustrated by his own sub- 
sequent epistles (see particularly 1 Pet. 1 : 5, 17 ; 3 : 15 ; 4 : 12). 

And observe that Peter's sin, repentance, and 
pardon afford to the disciples of Christ a witness 
of how great is the forgiving kindness of the 
Lord, and how large his pardoning mercy, even 
to apostates. Comp. 1 Tim. 1 : 16. Again, con- 
trast (1) Peter and Jesus. Jesus, before the 
high-priest, with the sanctity of an oath, testi- 
fies to his divinity, and so surrenders himself to 
the cross ; Peter, before the servants, adds an 
oath to his denial of the Lord, and so escapes 
arrest. (2.) Peter here and elsewhere. He who 
was the first to confess Christ the Son of God, 
was the first to deny him (comp. Matt. 16 : 16). But 



Ch. XXVII.] 



MATTHEW. 



305 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

WHEN the morning was come, all the chief priests 
and elders of the people took counsel^ against 
Jesus to put him to death. 

2 And when they had bound him, they led him 
away, and delivered him " to Pontius Piiate the gov- 
ernor. 



3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he 
saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and 
brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief 
priests and elders, 

4 Saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the 
innocent blood. 1 And they said, What is that to us? 
see thou to that. 



j Ps. 2 : 2. . . . k ch. 20 : 19 12 Kings 24 : 4. 



even then he rebuked Christ for prophesying 
his passion (Matt. 16 : 22) ; no wonder that he now 
refused to share it. He who drew a sword to 
resist the guard (Joim is : ioj lacked courage to 
resist his own fears. He was the most coura- 
geous and the most cowardly of the eleven. He 
who denied now never denied again, but learned 
well the needed lesson of courage and caution. 
See ref. above to Acts and 1 Peter. That the 
old weakness was not, however, at once and for- 
ever eradicated, see Gal. 2 : 11, 12. (3.) Peter 
and Judas. Both looked for a temporal Mes- 
siah ; both were disappointed by the revelation 
of a suffering Messiah ; both disowned Him 
whom they had once followed. But Judas did 
so deliberately, Peter under a stress of unex- 
pected temptation ; one of his own will, the 
other despite the purpose of his better self ; one 
sought refuge from remorse in death, the other 
from the burden of his sin in the forgiveness of 
his Lord. 



Ch. 27 : 1-10. JESUS IS LED TO I>I LATE.— REMORSE 
AND DEATH OF JUDAS.-Pai.se repentance: "A man 

MAT KNOW HIS SIN, CONCEIVE AN ABHORRENCE OP IT, 
REPENT OP IT, CONFESS IT, RESTORE HIS ILL-GOTTEN 
GOODS, RETIRE FROM THE OCCASION, AND YET BE A 
FALSE PENITENT, LIKE JUDAS." — (Quesnel.) — INDIVID- 
ual responsibility ; every soul must see to its own 
sin. — Satan entices us to sin, but deserts us when 
we have fallen into it. — tlie reward of apostasy 
(ver. 5 with Acts 1 : 18).— The hypocrite's con- 
science : LAWFUL TO PAY THE PRICE OF BLOOD ; UN- 
lawful to put it into the lord's treasury. — the 
death of Christ provides a resting-place for the 
outcast.— a marvellous prophecy, marvellously 
fulfilled. — the punitive power of conscience 
illustrated. 

The trial before Pilate is reported by the four 
Evangelists, most fully by John. See below, on 
ver. 11-31. The remorse and death cf Judas are 
described only by Matthew ; a different account 
is given by Peter in Acts 1 : 18, 19. See below, 
on ver. 6-8. 

1, 2. When the morning was come. 
" This was the time of saying their phylacteries, 
namely, from the first daylight to the third hour. 
But where was these men's religion to-day? 
Did you say your phylacteries this morning, my 
good fathers of the council, before you came to 
sit on the bench ? "— (Lightfoot.)— AH the chief 
priests and elders. Not literally all ; one, at 



least, was probably absent (Lute 23 : 51). — Took 
counsel to put him to death. That is, to 
execute the death-sentence already passed 
upon him. The language implies, not a formal 
trial (as Lange, James Morison, Alford, and 
others), but a private conference to devise means 
for the execution of the death-sentence. The 
Jews had not the power under the Roman gov- 
ernment of putting to death (joim 18 : 31, note), and a 
charge of blasphemy would be looked on with 
as much indifference by Pilate in Jerusalem as 
by Gallio in Achaia (Acts is : 12-17). It was there- 
fore necessary to present some other charge, and 
support it by some plausible evidence. The 
result of this conference was an accusation of 
sedition (Luke 23 : 2). — Pontius Pilate the gov- 
ernor. The Roman provinces were of two 
kinds, Senatorial and Imperial. The latter were 
governed by military officers, who held their 
office and power at the pleasure of the Emperor. 
They looked after the taxes, paid the troops, 
preserved order, and administered a rude sort of 
justice ; from their decisions there was ordina- 
rily no appeal, except in the case of a Roman 
citizen. Judaea was an Imperial province ; Pon- 
tius Pilate was its governor or procurator, and 
was directly amenable to the Emperor, Tiberius 
Caesar, for his administration. On his character 
see notes on John (ch. 19 : ie). 

3, 4. Judas * * * * repented himself. 
There are two Greek words used in the N. T., 
both of which are rendered repent. They arc 
not quite synonymous ; the one (ficruroiu) sig- 
nifies literally to know after, and hence indicates 
a change of mind or purpose (Matt. 3 : 2, note) ; the 
other (u£tai.ii?.ouui) signifies literally, to care 
after, and so to carry a burden of sorrow for the 
past. The latter is the word used here. The 
distinction is well stated by Trench : " He who 
has changed his mind about the past is in the way 
to change everything ; he who has an after care 
may have little or nothing more than a selfish 
dread of the consequences of what he has done." 
This appears to have been the state of mind of 
Judas. — The thirty pieces of silver. Thirty 
shekels, i. e., $18 to $20. The fact that this was 
all that was returned indicates that it was all 
that was received ; not merely, as some have sup- 
posed, earnest money paid down to bind the bar- 
gain (ch. 26 : 16, note). — I have sin iied in that I 
have hetrayed the innocent blood. This 



306 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVII. 



5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the tem- 
ple, and departed, and went and hanged™ himself. 

6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and 
said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, 
because it is the price of blood. 

7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the 
potter's field, to bury strangers in. 



8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, 
unto this day. 

9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken n by Jer- 
emy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty 
pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, 
whom they of the children of Israel did value; 

io And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord 
appointed me. 



m 2 Sam. 17 : 23 ; Ps. 55 : 23 ; Acts 1 : 18 n Zech. 11 : 12, 13. 



language is inconsistent with the theory that 
Judas' betrayal was a stratagem to compel Christ 
to declare himself the Messiah. The word trans- 
lated sin (ix/.iuQtuvuj), though literally meaning 
to err, in the N. T. usage always signifies moral 
■wrong, never a mere error in judgment. The 
Jewish law required the court to receive any new 
evidence for the accused, even after conviction 
and sentence. I believe that this was an attempt 
on Judas' part, under this well-known provision, 
to offer evidence to the innocence of Jesus, and 
so secure a reversal of the sentence pronounced 
against him. In refusing to receive his testi- 
mony the court violated its own rule of proced- 
ure. Dr. Robinson, it is true, places this testi- 
mony of Judas subsequent to the condemnation 
of Pilate. But he assigns no adequate reason 
for departing from the order indicated by Mat- 
thew, and his hypothesis does not agree with the 
narrative. This interview between Judas and 
the court was, apparently, while the court was in 
session, and in the Temple (vers. 3, 5) ; and after 
Jesus was conducted to Pilate, the members of 
the Sanhedrim, or at least an important portion 
of them, seem not to have returned to the Tem- 
ple till they had seen the crucifixion accom- 
plished (vers. 20, 41 ). I judge, then, that Judas 
came to the council while they were deliberating 
how to execute the death-sentence which they 
had pronounced (ver. 1), and for the purpose of 
procuring a reversal of that sentence. Observe 
the significance of his testimony. "Had our 
Lord been condemned to death on the evidence 
of one of his own disciples, it would have fur- 
nished infidels with a strong argument against 
Christ and the Christian religion. 'One of his 
own disciples, knowing the whole imposture, de- 
clared it to the Jewish rulers, in consequence 
of which he was put to death as an impostor and 
deceiver.'" — {Adam Clarke.) — See thou to 
that. Rather, Thou shalt see to that. The verb 
is in the indicative, not the imperative mood. 
Pilate repeats the same language to the multi- 
tude (ver. 24). Both Pilate and the priests are un- 
conscious Witnesses tO the truth (Ezek. 18 : 4 ; Gal. 6 : 5). 

5. In the Temple. The word so rendered 
(raoc), is ordinarily employed in the N. T. to 
designate the Holy Place which was God's special 
abode, and which the priests alone might enter 
(Mark 15 : 38 j Luke i : 9). If this be the meaning here, 
Judas came to the entrance, and when the money 



was refused, cast it through the open door into the 
Holy Place in a rage, and went away. I should 
think it more probable, with Bengel, that the word 
here stands for the more general one (Uqoc), 
usually employed to designate the whole sacred 
edifice with its outbuildings. Probably the San- 
hedrim were still in session in the council-cham- 
ber (see Luke 22 : G6, note), and Judas entered during 
their deliberations to offer his evidence to the 
innocence of the accused, which, by the rules of 
Jewish procedure, they were required to receive. 
— And departed, and went and hanged 
himself. Lange supposes that he first attempted 
to retire from the world and do penance by a life 
of solitude, and that not till afterwards did de- 
spair drive him to suicide. It is not probable 
that the consultation as to what should be done 
with the money, reported in the succeeding 
verse, took place till after the crucifixion. 

G-8. It is not lawful. Because, being 
blood-money, they regarded it as unclean (See Dent. 
23 : is). " Blind and merciless priests, very careful 
in laying out Judas' money, but not in the least 
concerned what will become of his soul." — 
(Quesnel.) Comp. Matt. 23 : 14, 29-33. A strange 
conscience that pays blood-money without scru- 
ple, but scruples to give it to the Lord. But it 
is better than the modern conscience which takes 
the devil's money for the devil's work, and is 
appeased by paying a part into the treasury of 
the Lord. — The price of blood. That is, For 
blood — the murderer's wages. — The potter's 
field. A place from which clay had been exca- 
vated for some well-known pottery, and pur- 
chased for so small a price because of its now 
useless character. — To bury strangers in. 
Possibly, as Alford, for stranger Jews, quite as 
probably for Gentiles, more probably for both. 
It was to be a burial-place for the poor and the 
unknown. The site of this field is unknown; 
the traditional site is just outside the walls of 
Jerusalem on the south of Mount Zion. That 
the "field of blood" should ever have been re- 
garded as a sacred spot is one of the curiosities 
of Church history. Such, however, is the fact. 
It was believed in the Middle Ages that the soil 
of this place had the power of very rapidly con- 
suming bodies buried in it ; and in consequence 
either of this, or of the sanctity of the spot, great 
quantities of the earth were taken away ; among 
others, by the Pisan Crusaders in 1218, for their 



Oh. XXVII.J 



MATTHEW. 



30? 



Campo Santo at Pisa, and by the Empress Helena 
for that at Rome. — Unto this day. This ex- 
pression indicates that some time elapsed between 
the event and the publication of Matthew's gospel. 
Comp. ch. 38 : 15. 

The account of the death of Judas in Acts 
1 : 18, 19, is quite different from that given here. 
The most common explanation is also the most 
natural, viz., that Judas hanged himself as de- 
scribed by Matthew, that the cord broke and in 
the fall he was mangled in the manner described 
by Peter, that his suicide took place in the field 
purchased by the priests with the blood money, 
and from the double circumstance of this pur- 
chase and his death it was called the field of blood, 
and that Peter's expression: "He purchased a 
field with the reward of iniquity," is a bitter 
ironical reference to the recompense of Judas' 
treachery, which would be understood by his 
hearers, to whom the facts were all well known. 
"Prof. Hackett, referring to a suggestion that 
he may have hung himself upon a tree overhang- 
ing the valley of Hinnom, says : ' For myself, I 
felt, as I stood in the valley and looked up to the 
rocky terraces which hang over it, that the pro- 
posed explanation was a perfectly natural one. 
1 was more than ever satisfied with it. ' He found 
the precipice, by measurement, to be from 
twenty-five to forty feet in height, with olive- 
trees growing near the edges, and a rocky pave- 
ment at the bottom, so that a person who fell 
from above would probably be crushed and 
mangled, as well as killed." — (Andrews.) 

9, 10. Then was fulfilled, etc. There is 
no such prophecy in Jeremiah. It occurs in 
Zechariah 11 : 12, 13. Either the Evangelist 
quoted from memory and made a mistake in his 
citation (Alford), or he referred to Jeremiah 
because his Book was placed first in the Books 
of the Prophets (Lightfoot), or by a transcriber's 
error Jeremiah was substituted for Zechariah 
(Barnes, James Morison). In the Greek manu- 
script, words, proper names especially, were often 
abridged. Mr. Barnes claims that the change by 
the transcriber of a single letter Iriou (Jeremiah) 
for Zriou (Zechariah), would account for the mis- 
take. The prophecy itself is mystical, and would, 
I believe, be inexplicable but for its historical ful- 
fillment. It is in these words (Henderson's trans- 
lation): "And I said to them, If it be good in 
your eyes, give my reward ; and if not, forbear. 
So they weighed my reward, thirty pieces of 
silver. And Jehovah said to me, Cast it to the 
potter, the splendid price at which I was esti- 
mated by them ! And I took the thirty pieces 
of silver and cast them into the House of Jehovah 
to the potter." Apparently the prophet calls 
for his recompense ; the people offer him a con- 
temptible sum ; the Lord regards it as offered 
to himself ; and he directs it to be contemptuously 



rejected by being thrown to the potter in the 
Temple, a symbolic act which in some way, not 
now very clear, expressed scorn or contempt. 
In the fulfillment of this, which was a prophetic 
act, the same sum, thirty pieces of silver, are paid 
as the price for the Saviour's blood ; the money 
is returned by the traitor, to the priests in the 
Temple; the priests, regarding it with abhor- 
rence, refuse to put it into the treasury of the 
Lord ; and it is used for the purchase of a potter's 
field. The correspondence between the prophecy 
and its fulfillment is the more striking because of 
the difference of the circumstances in the two 
cases. A comparison of the quotation with the 
original prophecy indicates that it is made from 
memory ; it is not verbally exact. 

Character and Career of Judas Iscariot. 
— The character of Judas Iscariot is an enigma. 
He is called by Christ to be a disciple, is ordained 
as an apostle, is sent forth to preach the Gospel, 
power is conferred on him to work miracles (Lute 
6:16; Matt. ch. 10), and he is made treasurer of the 
band (John 12 : 6). He deserts the cause to which he 
has voluntarily consecrated himself, betrays his 
Master for the paltry sum of thirty pieces of silver 
(Matt. 26 : is, note), personally conducts the guard to 
Christ's place of retreat, and shows himself both 
to the Master and his followers as a traitor, thus 
indicating a nature not only dead to conscience, 
but indifferent to the just scorn and cotatempt of 
his companions. Yet when his treachery is con- 
summated he is filled with remorse at a result 
which he might easily have anticipated even if 
Christ had not explicitly foretold it, he endeavors 
to repair the wrong by a voluntary testimony to 
the innocence of the accused, returns the money 
paid him for his treachery, and evinces the bit- 
terness of his remorse by his act of self-destruc- 
tion. In the interpretation of this enigma two 
extreme hypotheses have been proposed, each of 
which appears to me to be false in fact, and to 
lose the lesson of Judas' life and death. The 
first supposes him to have joined the disciples 
solely from worldly and selfish motives, and to 
have abandoned them solely to secure the prof- 
fered bribe. This interpretation of his character 
is inconsistent with, (1) his selection by Christ, 
who can hardly be thought to have chosen as an 
apostle one who was a traitor in thought and 
feeling from the outset ; (2) the smallness of the 
bribe. This thirty shekels was equal to $18 
to S20 ; making a fair allowance for the differ- 
ence in values between that age and this, it 
would be equivalent to about 8150 of our cur- 
rency. This sum would hardly of itself consti- 
tute an adequate motive for such a deed of 
infamy, even to the most avaricious ; (3) the 
fact that the offer of betrayal originated with 
Judas ; the bribe was not first proffered to him. 
(4.) Judas' disappointment, remorse, and return 



308 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVII. 



of the bribe. If the money was the sole motive 
of his treachery, there is nothing to account 
for this. The second hypothesis regards him 
as the victim of a delusion rather than the perpe- 
trator of a crime. It supposes that Judas was 
a sincere, though mistaken and worldly-minded 
disciple of Jesus ; that he believed Jesus to be 
the long-looked for Messiah ; that he was impa- 
tient of his Master's delay in publicly declaring 
himself and inaugurating his Messianic kingdom ; 
that he therefore resorted to a stratagem and 
contrived Christ's arrest, fully believing that, 
thus compelled to exert his miraculous powers 
for his own deliverance, he would assert his Mes- 
siahship and set up his kingdom in Jerusalem ; 
and that when the result proved so different and 
so disastrous, the mistaken disciple was over- 
whelmed with remorse and despair. See this 
view, in a modified form, defended in Dr. Clarke's 
Commentary on Acts, ch. 1 ; he maintains that 
Judas did not destroy himself, truly repented of 
his sin, did what he could to undo his wicked act, 
and that "there is no positive evidence of the 
final damnation of Judas in the sacred text." 
This view is inconsistent, (1) with Judas' recep- 
tion of the bribe. If his treachery were a mere 
stratagem, surely he might have contrived some 
other way of accomplishing it. By his compact 
with the priests, his withdrawal from the Supper 
table, and his accompanying the band to Geth- 
semane, he emphasizes his entire separation from 
the disciples; (2) with his own language, "I 
have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent 
blood (ver. 3, note) ; (3) with the subsequent lan- 
guage of Peter and the disciples respecting him. 
He "purchased a field with the reward of in- 
iquity." "Judas by transgression fell, that he 
might go to his own place (Acts 1 : 18, 25) ; (4) with 
Christ's language, who designates him as "the 
son of perdition " (John n : 12) and declares of him 
that "it were good for that man if he had not 
been born " (Matt. 26 : 24). Some light on the true 
interpretation of Judas' character and career is 
thrown by a consideration of the following facts : 
(1.) All the disciples originally expected that an 
immediate and earthly kingdom would be set up 
by Christ. This expectation they retained to the 
last (Matt. 19 : 27; Luke 19 : n). When he disavowed 
this, many who had followed left him (John 6 : 66). 
Thus in' them all there was a conflict between per- 
sonal allegiance to their Master, and worldly am- 
bition, strengthened by life-long religious preju- 
dice derived from priestly and Pharisaic teaching. 
(2.) The name Iscariot (probably of Kerioth), indi- 
cates that Judas was originally a resident of Keri- 
oth, a town of southern Judea. In that case he 
was the only Judean amongthe twelve, and of them 
all, therefore, the onemost likely to be imbued with 
the Jewish worldly ideas respecting the Messiah's 
kingdom, with the narrow national prejudices 



against the admission of Gentiles to the kingdom 
of God, and with reverence for the priesthood, 
the Pharisees, and the Jewish church and reli- 
gion ; the one most likely, therefore, to take 
offence at Christ's distinct renunciation of a 
temp>oral kingdom, distinct declaration of a king- 
dom open to the Gentile nations, and emphatic 
denunciation of the religion of the priesthood 
and the Pharisees. (3.) He did not inaugurate 
any measures for the betrayal of his Master until 
after Christ's final and public rupture with the 
hierarchy, his vehement denunciation of the 
hypocrisy of the Pharisees in his Temple min- 
istry, his declaration (in the parables of the two 
sons and the wicked husbandmen) that the king- 
dom would be taken from them and given to the 
Gentiles, and his prophecy to his own disciples, 
in language still more distinct, that Jerusalem 
was to be destroyed, and the kingdom of God 
founded on its ruins, after the Messiah's death, 
and only in the far future, at his second coming 
(Matt., ctaps. 21-24). (4.) The immediate occasion of 
Judas' compact with the priests was Christ's 
public rebuke, administered at the house of 
Mary and Martha, and accompanying a still 
more explicit prophecy of his approaching death 
(Matt. 26 : 6-16). I believe, then, that Judas origi- 
nally followed Jesus, as did the rest, from a 
mixed motive, partly drawn by personal ambi- 
tion, partly by a real reverence for Christ and 
the moral beauty of his teaching ; that in all the 
disciples there was at first a perplexity, and then 
a conflict between ambition and spiritual love, 
as the nature of Christ's kingdom was more and 
more clearly disclosed ; that in the eleven Christ 
conquered, in the twelfth ambition ; that, disap- 
pointed by Christ's prophecy of his own suffer- 
ings and death, and the approaching overthrow 
of the Jewish temple, priesthood, and religion, 
and angered by the personal rebuke publicly 
administered to him, Judas abandoned what 
seemed to him a failing cause, hoping by his 
treachery to gain a position of honor and influ- 
ence in the Pharisaic party ; that the thirty 
pieces of silver constituted not the main, but 
only an incidental motive ; that his treachery 
brought him, as treachery always does, only the 
contempt of the priesthood, who used him as 
their tool and then cast him away ; that his con- 
science was tardily awakened, by his disappointed 
ambition, to a sense of his fruitless sin and his 
public ignominy, but not to a sense of his guilt 
before God or his need of an opportunity for 
pardon ; that thus his experience resembled that 
of King Saul, not that of the Prodigal Son (1 Sam. 

15 : SO ; Luke 15 : 18, 19 ; and see ref. below) ; that by offering 

a tardy testimony to the innocence of Jesus, and 
returning the bribe, he endeavored to undo his 
work, but could not ; and so, rejected by the 
priests, scorned by the disciples, and scourged 



Ch. XXVII.] 



MATTHEW. 



309 



ii And Jesus stood before the governor: and the 
governor asked hirn, saying, Art thou the King of the 
Jews ? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. 

12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and 
elders, he answered ° nothing. 



13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how 
many things they witness against thee ? 

14 And fie answered him to never a word ; insomuch 
that the governor marvelled greatly. 



o chap. 26 : 63. 



by his own conscience, he sought refuge from 
himself in death. The lessons of his life appear 
to me to be, (1) that one may be high in Christ's 
church, but no true disciple, an apostle and an 
apostate (Matt. 7:22; 1 cor. 9: 2?) ; (2) the growth of 
sin — worldliness leads to ambition, ambition to 
estrangement from Christ, estrangement to apos- 
tasy, treachery, and death. Hence the charac- 
ter of Judas is a warning to all worldly profess- 
ors of religion who endeavor to serve both God 
and mammon (2 Tim. 4 : 10) ; (3) the nature of true 
repentance. In the case of Judas the external 
signs are not wanting. He confesses his guilt ; 
endeavors, by testifying to the innocence of Je- 
sus, to repair the wrong which he has done ; re- 
turns the money ; proves by his death how deep 
is his sorrow. But the internal spirit of true 
repentance is wanting. It is a sense of shame 
before men, rather than of guilt before God ; its 
poignancy is due rather to the fruitlessness than 
the enormity of his guilt ; it is manifested in 
remorse for the past, not in any new purpose for 
the future ; and it leads not to a new life in 
Christ Jesus, but to a despairing death. Re- 
pentance is inspired chiefly by conscience, re- 
morse chiefly by pride, avarice, or self-esteem ; 
repentance inspires to a new life, remorse leads 
to despair and death ; repentance seeks forgive- 
ness, remorse oblivion ; repentance conducts 
Peter to Christ, remorse drives Judas from him. 
See note on Peter's denial of his Lord, p. 264. 
And for illustrative passages on true and false 
repentance see the following : True repentance — 
2 Sam. 24 : 10 ; 1 Kings 8 : 46-50 ; Ezra 9 : 6-13 ; 
Neh. 1:6, 7 ; 9 : 33 ; Psalm 51 ; Dan. 9:5-7; 
Luke 15 : 17, 18 ; 2 Cor. 7 : 9-11 ; false repent- 
ance—Gen. 4 : 13 ; Lev. 26 : 36 ; Deut. 28 : 
65-67 ; 1 Sam. 15 : 30 ; Micah 7 : 17 ; Luke 13 : 
28 ; Rev. 6 : 15-17. 

Ch. 27 : 11-31. TRIAL BEFORE PTLATE.-The value 

OF POPULARITY : THE CROWD GIVES LIBERTY TO THE 
MURDERER, AND THE CROSS TO THE Son OP GOD.— THE 
CRIME OF ENVY (18) : " LIKE THE WORM, IT NEVER 
RUNS BUT TO THE FAIREST FRUIT ; LIKE A CUNNING 
BLOODHOUND, IT SINGLES OUT THE FATTEST DEER IN 
THE FLOCK." — GOD'S MERCY: HE USES EVEN THEIR 
SUPERSTITION FOR THE RECLAMATION OF THE SUPER- 
STITIOUS (19). — The curse of an apostate and per- 
secuting church: IT IS THE chief PRIESTS who 
incite the cry, Crucify him (20).— Passion can 
give no reason for its demands: convicted of 
injustice, it only cries out the more (23).— the 
uselessness of mere ceremonial.— no one can 
escape his just responsibilities (24). — the auda- 



CITY AND THE COWARDICE OF CRIME: IT DARES ALL 
CONSEQUENCES BEFOREHAND, AND TRIES TO EVADE 

them afterward (25 with Acts 5 : 28). — The crowned 

SUFFERER : HIS PATIENT SUFFERING CROWNS HLJI WITH 
IGNOMINY HERE, WITH GLORY HEREAFTER (27-29 with 

Phil. 2 : 6-11). 

The trial of Christ before Pilate is reported by 
the four Evangelists : Mark 15 : 1-23 ; Luke 23 : 
1-25; John 18 : 28 to 19 : 16. Of this trial John 
gives the fullest account. For consideration of 
Pilate's character and the practical lessons to be 
drawn from his course, see notes there. Mat- 
thew's account of the mockery by the soldiers 
(ver. 28-so) is the fullest ; and he alone recounts 
Pilate's wife's dream (ver. 19) and his hand-wash- 
ing (ver. 24,25). Mark's account is almost exactly 
parallel to Matthew's, except some additional 
information respecting Barabbas. Luke alone 
gives the accusation preferred by the Jews 
against Jesus (ver. 2, 3) and the sending of Jesus 
to Herod (ver. 4-12). Combining the four accounts, 
the probable order of events seems to be as fol- 
lows: Jesus is brought before Pilate, who de- 
mands the accusation ; this demand the priests 
endeavor to evade (John is : 29-32) ; they then accuse 
him of sedition (Luke 23 : 2, 3) ; Pilate examines 
Christ privately in respect to this charge, and 
acquits him (join is : 33-38) ; in the clamor of voices 
which ensues he catches the word Galilee, learns 
that Jesus is a Galilean, and sends him to Herod 
(Luke 23 : 4-12) ; on his return he repeats his declara- 
tion of Jesus' innocence, but proposes as a com- 
promise to scourge him (Luke 23 : 13-n) ; at the same 
time some among the crowd demand the custom- 
ary release of a prisoner (Mark 15 : 8), and Pilate pro- 
poses to release Jesus to them ; while waiting 
for their response he receives his wife's message 
(Matt. 27 : 19) ; the people, being instigated by the 
priests (Mark 15 : n), demand the release of Barab- 
bas and the crucifixion of Jesus (Matt. 27 : 20-23 ; Mark 

15 : 11-14; Luke 23 : 17-23; John 18 : 39, 40) ; Pilate Washes 

his hands in attestation of his own innocence 
(Matt. 27 : 24), and delivers Jesus to the soldiers, 
who scourge and mock him (Matt. 27 : 26-30 ; Mark 
15 : 15-19 ; John 19 : 1-3) ; he makes two more attempts 
to save Jesus, by appealing first to the pity and 
then to the patriotism of the people (John 19 : 4-15), 
but finally yields to the mob and delivers our 

Lord tO be Crucified (Matt. 27 : 31 ; Mark 15 : 20 ; Luke 
23: 24,25; John 19 : 16). 

11-14. The governor. Pilate. See above 
on ver. 2. — Art thou the King of the Jews ? 

This examination was preceded by a charge of 



310 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVII. 



15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to re- 
lease unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. 

16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called 
Barabbas. 

17 Therefore, when they were gathered together, 
Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release 
unto you ? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ ? 

18 For he knew that for envy 1 they had delivered 
him. 

iq When he was set down on the judgment-seat, his 
wife sent unto him, saying. Have thou nothing to do 
with that r just man ; for 1 nave suffered many things 
this day in a dream because of him. 



20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the 
multitude that they stiould ask s Barabbas, and destroy 
Jesus. 

21 The governor answered and said unto them, 
Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you ? 
They said, Barabbas. 

22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with 
Jesus, which is called Christ ? They all say unto him, 
Let him be crucified. 

23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he 
done ? But they cried out the more, saying, Let ' him 
be crucified. 



p Mark 15 : 6, etc. ; Luke 23 : 17, etc. ; Join 18 : 39, etc. ...q Prov. 97 : 4 ; Eecles. 4 : 4. . . .r Inn. 53 : 
1 Pet. 2 : 22; 1 John 2:1 3 Acts 3 : 14 t ch. 21 : 38, 39. 



Zeck. 0:9; Luke 23 : 47 ; 



sedition, preferred by the priests (Luke 23 : 2, 3). It 
is more fully reported by John (ch. 18 : 28-38, notes). 
Jesus was acquitted. — He answered nothing. 
He first explains to Pilate the nature of his king- 
dom, and satisfies him that he is innocent of 
sedition ; after that he keeps silence. He will 
answer honest perplexity, but not willful slan- 
der. 

15-18. The governor was wont to re- 
lease unto the people a prisoner. This 
custom is mentioned in all the Gospels ; it is not 
mentioned in secular history, and its origin is 
unknown, but its significance is not difficult to 
understand. "In a conquered country the inter- 
ests of the government are generally regarded as 
so distinct from those of the people, that even the 
punishment of criminals, especially those guilty 
of political crimes, is regarded as in some sense 
an injury to the community. A foreign power 
comes and establishes itself over them, and it is 
not surprising that even wholesome control 
should be unpopular, and that the pardon of a 
state criminal should be regarded as a boon 
from the authorities — a suitable contribution 
from the government to the means of rejoicing 
at a great public festival." — (Jacob Abbotts Cor- 
ner-stone.') — Notable. Rather notorious; the 
original (inlaijuoc) is capable of either a good or 
a bad sense. — Called Barabbas. Some man- 
uscripts have here and in the following verse 
Jesus Barabbas. Barabbas means son of Abba, or 
son of his father. Pilate's question, then, would 
be, Whom will ye that I release unto you, Jesus 
the son of Abba, or Jesus called the Messiah ? 
External evidence does not support this reading, 
but it is more probable that the word Jesus was 
omitted by some scribe in the early copies from 
motives of reverence, than that it was subse- 
quently added. Of Barabbas nothing more is 
known than what is told in the four Gospels. 
He was one of a band (Mark 15 : 7), probably their 
leader, and had committed both robbery and 
murder in the insurrection in which he had been 
engaged (Luke 23 : 19; John is : 4o). — He knew that, 
etc. Probably, therefore, he knew something 
about Jesus before this time ; he had given the 
band of soldiers for his arrest (John is : 3, note), and 



certainly knew something of the spirit and char- 
acter of the priests. See note on character of 
Pilate, John 19 : 10. Observe the indirect testi- 
mony to the character of the prosecution of 
Christ by the priests, and compare their spirit 
with that of John the Baptist (John 3 : 29, so). In 
support of this statement respecting their mo- 
tives, see John 11 : 48-50. 

10. This incident of Pilate's wife's dream is 
recorded only by Matthew. Nothing is known 
of her. — He was set down on the judg- 
ment-seat. Formally to adjudicate the case ; 
the previous examinations had been informal 
and preliminary. For illustration of judgment- 
seat see John 19 : 13, note. — Have thou noth- 
ing to do with that just man ; i. e., have 
no part in the proceedings for his condemnation. 
— In a dream. The Romans had great faith in 
dreams. Homer declared that " they come from 
Jove"'. In obedience to dreams the great Em- 
peror Augustus went begging money through 
the streets of Rome. They were employed by 
God throughout the O. T. times for prediction 
or for warning, but generally either to those who 
were aliens to the Jewish covenant, as in the 
cases of Abimeleeh (Gen. 20 : 3-7), Laban (Gen. 31 : 24), 
the butler and baker (Gen. 40 : 5), Pharaoh (Gen. 
41 : 1-8), the Midianite (judges 7 : 13), Nebuchadnez- 
zar (Dan. 2 : 1, etc. ; 4 : 10-18), the magi (Matt. 2 : 12), Pi- 
late's wife (Matt. 27 : 19) ; or to God's servants 
during the periods of their most imperfect 
knowledge of him, as in the cases of Abraham 

(Gen. 15 : 12), Jacob (28 : 12-15), Joseph (37 : 6-10), SolO- 

mon (i Kings 3: s), and Joseph, husband of Mary 
(Matt. i : 20 ; 11:13, 19, 22) In this case I believe that 
God, who made use of the star to direct the 
astrologers to the cradle of Jesus, made use of a 
dream to warn Pilate from participating in 
Christ's condemnation. 

20-23. While Pilate was receiving this mes- 
sage from his wife and waiting the answer to his 
question of ver. 17, the chief-priests and elders 
were busy in the crowd, persuading them what 
answer to give. That their outcry, Let him he 
crucified, was vehement and tumultuous, is indi- 
cated by ver. 24 and Luke 23 : 23. Observe that 
Pilate appeals for Christ's release with shrewd- 



Ch. XX VII.] 



MATTHEW. 



311 



24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, 
but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, ana 
washed his u hands before the multitude, saying, I am 
innocent of the blood of this just person : see ye to it. 

25 Then answered all the people, and said, His" 
blood be on us, and on our children. 

26 Then released he Barabbas unto them : and when 
he had scourged" Jesus, he delivered him to be cru- 
cified. 

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into 
the common hall, and gatheied unto him the whole 
band of soldiers. 



28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet 
robe. 

29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, 
they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand : 
and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked * 
him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews ! 

30 And they spit J upon him, and took the reed, and 
smote him on the head. 

31 And after that they had mocked him, they took 
the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, 
and led z him away to crucify him. 



n Deut. 21 : 6... 



Deut. 19 : 10 ; Josh. 2 : 19 ; Acta 5 : '28 w Isa. 53 : 5 ; Luke 18 : 33.... ic Ps. 69 : 19, 

50: 6; 53 : i, 1 z Numb. 15 : 35; 1 Ktngs 21 : 10, 13 ; Acts 7 : 58 ; Heb. 13: 12. 



y Isa. 49 : 7 ; 



ness. Jesus which is called the Messiah is an ap- 
peal to their patriotism ; Wliat evil hath he done? 
to their sense of justice. Comp. his later en- 
deavors, John 19 : 5, 13, 14. Crucifixion was a 
Roman punishment, and the erection of a cross 
on Jewish soil was itself a sign of the national 
degradation. The demand for crucifixion shows 
how far passion swayed the mob, who uncon- 
sciously fulfilled Christ's own prophecy (John 

3 : 14 ; 8 : 28). 

24, 25. He could prevail nothing; that 
is, by persuasion, and he was not willing to 
hazard a conflict with the mob lest he should be 
accused to the emperor of indifference to his 
interests (John 19 : 12). — He took water and 
washed his hands. The washing of hands 
as betokening innocence from blood-guiltiness is 
described in Deut. 21 : 6-9 ; and the Jews would 
therefore have understood this symbolic act. 
But there is no reason to suppose that Pilate 
derived it from the Jews. Ablutions were per- 
formed in ancient Greece, and probably in Eome, 
by private individuals, when they had polluted 
themselves by any criminal action. — See ye to 
it. Rather, Ye shall see to it. See note on ver. 4. 
— His blood be on us. But later they com- 
plained of the Apostles, that by their preaching 
"they intend to bring this man's blood upon us " 
(Acts 5: 28). If Pilate's endeavor was to appeal to 
the priests' dread of divine punishment, by 
throwing the whole responsibility upon them, it 
signally failed. The terrible imprecation of this 
verse was terribly answered ir; subsequent his- 
tory, in which the blood of Christ fell upon all 
who participated in his condemnation and death. 
Not only was the crucifixion, which the Jews de- 
manded to be inflicted on Jesus, inflicted on 
myriads of Jews during the siege of Jerusalem, 
not only were they sold as slaves in great num- 
bers for less than the thirty pieces of silver paid 
to Judas, but the judgments of God followed 
significantly the individuals who were most 
prominent in this crime. "Before the dread 
sacrifice was consummated, Judas died in the 
horrors of a loathsome suicide. Caiaphas was 
deposed the year following. Herod died in 
infamy and exile, stripped of his procurator- 
ship very shortly afterwards, on the very charges 




he had tried by a wicked concession to avoid. 
Pilate, wearied out with misfortunes, died in 
suicide and banishment, leaving behind him an 
execrated name. The house of Annas was de- 
stroyed a generation later by an infuriated mob, 
and his son was dragged through the streets, 
and scourged and beaten to his place of murder. " 
— {Farrar.) 

2G-31. Of this mockery of Jesus by the sol- 
diers Matthew gives the fullest account. Cru- 
cifixion was always preceded by scourging. 
The scourge con- 
sisted of several 
chains or thongs 
of leather with 
pieces of metal 
or bone affixed to 
them which cut 
at every stroke a 
bloody furrow in 
the quivering flesh. Our 
illustrations are taken, one 
from an original found at 
Herculaneum, the other from 
a bas-relief. Scourging itself 
often produced death. The 
common hall, which Mark in 
scourges. the original more specifically 

describes as the court-yard («tv.i]c), was proba- 
bly the central court around which the Jewish 
house was usually constructed. See Matt. 26 : 69, 
note. The place I believe to have been, not the 
palace of Herod as Alford supposes, but the 
tower of Antonia. See John 18 : 28, note. The 
whole band, or cohort, which was gathered to join 
in the mockery, was the tenth part of a legion, 
embracing from three to six hundred men ; but 
here probably only that portion of the band or 
cohort which was then actually on service. The 
scarlet robe (xXauvc), was a short and light man- 
tle originating with the inhabitants of Thessaly 
or Macedonia, whence it was imported into 
other parts of Greece, and became a regular 
equestrian costume of the period. The ac- 
companying illustration, from a Greek vase, 
will give the reader a better idea of its char- 
acter than any description. In Mark and John 
it is described as a " purple robe," but Matthew 




312 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVII. 



alone gives in the original its 
technical name. Both scar- 
let and purple were worn 
as marks of pre-eminence 

and wealth (Luke 16 : 19 ; Kev. 

17 : 4). Alf ord suggests that 
this scarlet robe may have 
been the one in which Herod 
arrayed Christ. This is pos- 
sible, but hardly probable. 
The word in Luke rendered 
gorgeous {Iujxtcqu?), indicates 
rather a white robe (Luke 
23 : ii, note). It is not known 
with certainty what was the 
plant employed in making 
the crown of thorns. Matthew calls it the acan- 
thus (uxavfra), but neither this nor the traditional 
plant known as spina christi fully answers the 
conditions of the narrative. Some flexile shrub 
or plant must be understood, possibly some va- 
riety of the cactus or prickly pear. Thorn bushes 
of various kinds are plentiful in Palestine. Our 
illustration presents a not uncommon species. 




SCABLBT ROBE. 




CROWN OF TIIORNS. 

Meyer supposes that the object of the thorn crown 
was not to occasion pain but " to mock ; " but the 
common conception of the thorns, pressed into a 
lacerated and bleeding brow, agrees better with 
the narrative, though not necessitated by it. 
The reed may have been the stalk of any plant, 
or a true reed, or some instrument made from it. 
The accompanying illustration represents the 
Papyrus antiquorum or paper reed of the an- 
cients. It grows still in great quantities near the 
plain of Gennesaret. Other varieties of reeds are 
found along the Jordan, and elsewhere in Pales- 
tine. Arrows, fishing-rods, pens, canes for meas- 
uring and other purposes, were made from the 
reed. A long cane, with a sponge affixed to 
the end of it for cleansing the ceiling of a room, 
was a common article of Roman furniture. This 
may have been the reed here used by the soldiers. 
This hour of Christ's coronation in mockery 
has been well described as the hour of Christ's 



grandeur. ' ' He was King 
then, and was indeed 
crowned. No throne was 
like the steps on which he 
stood. No imperial per- 
son was so august as this 
deridedandmartyredJew. 
If he had, by a resort 
to violence, relieved him- 
self, he would have been 
discrowned. To suffer in 
sweet willingness ; to 
have the suffering roll to 
unknown depths and not 
to murmur— this was to 
be a king far beyond the 
ordinary conception of 
kingship." — (Henry Ward 
Beecher's Sermons, Har- 
per's Ed.) 

31. His own raiment. (l/.idziov). 
cloak described in Matt. 24 : 18, note. 




THE REED. 



The 



Ch. 27 : 32-5C. THE CRUCIFIXION.— Christ's meet- 
tog OF DEATH : WITH PERFECT COMPOSURE AND WITH 

a soul alert (ver. 34). — The insensibility of the 

HUMAN HEART : ILLUSTRATED IN GAMBLING AT THE 
FOOT OF THE CROSS (35).— CHRIST IS NUMBERED WITH 
TRANSGRESSORS. It IS NO INTOLERABLE HARDSHIP TO 

be so numbered if god and our own conscience 
approve us. we are then numbered with christ 
(38). — The true and the false test of religion. 
The true test, the power it gives to confer 
blessing upon others ; the false test, its supposed 
power to confer blessing on ourselves (42).— god 
permits his beloved to suffer (43), but makes them, 
with Christ, more than conquerors in suffer- 
ing.— The TESTIMONY OF NATURE TO THE DIVINITY OF 

the Son of God (45).— Spiritual loneliness does 
not always prove that god has withdrawn from 
us. The testimony of Christ's agony to his love 

FOR TJS, TO THE REAL BURDEN OF SIN TO A SINLESS 

soux (46). — The world's misinterpretation of 
Christ's sufferings. It can never understand 
his cry (47-49). — Boldness of access given to God 
in Christ (51). — He is our resurrection (52, 53). 
— The danger of passion, pride, and prejudice, 
illustrated by the chief-priests. the beauty 
of patience, long-suffering, and love, illus- 
TRATED by Christ. — Christ, as our example 
teaches us how to die : by his death he teaches 
us the divine love, and the curse of sin ; IN HIS 
death he bears our sins that we may no more 
bear them (2 Cor. 5 : 21 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 24). 

Preliminary Note. The crucifixion is re- 
corded by the four Evangelists. Comp. Mark 
15 : 21^1 ; Luke 23 : 26-49 ; John 19 : 17-30. Mat- 
thew and Mark are almost exactly parallel ; the 
differences are only verbal. Luke and John both 
narrate incidents not recorded by the others. 

The most casual reader of the N. T. can hardly 
fail to notice the severe simplicity of the Evan- 
gelical narratives. They could not be more 



Ch. XXVII.] 



MATTHEW. 



313 



32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cy- 
rene, Simon by name : him they compelled to bear his 
cross. 



33 And when they were come unto a place called 
Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 



absolutely colorless if they were official reports 
by Pilate or bis subordinates. There is not a 
single epithet employed to express or excite, 
either indignation against the crucifiers, or rev- 
erence or compassion for the crucified. There is 
no attempt to deduce any doctrinal conclusion. 
Simply the facts are stated. Their singular im- 
partiality is of itself a remarkable testimony to 
their divine inspiration; for the story of the cross 
has acquired its power in part from the marvel- 
ous self-restraint of the historians. They have 
placed before the world the scene as they saw it ; 
each new generation sees through a clear and 
colorless atmosphere the Crucified One, undraped 
with the rhetoric of feeling ; His death is elo- 
quent because the story is told without elo- 
quence ; and the latest ages can say, Not only our 
ears have heard, but our eyes have seen the glory 
of the suffering Lord. Following their example 
I shall endeavor in these notes simply to give 
such information as will better enable the stu- 
dent to comprehend the facts. He who believes 
that the cross of Christ is the enthronement of 
God, because the supreme display of Divine love 
for the salvation of sinners, among whom he in- 
cludes himself, cannot look upon the Crucified 
One with compassion ; nor upon the crucifiers 
with hate. The admonition of Christ, "Weep 
not for me," forbids pity ; the prayer of Christ, 
"Father forgive them," forbids wrath. The 
spirit with which the redeemed in heaven ap- 
proach the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
the world (Rev. 5: 12), is that in which we are to 
approach Him on earth. 

Grouping the four narratives, the incidents 
which they nirrate appear to be substantially as 
follows : An association of women was organized 
in Jerusalem to alleviate the sufferings of con- 
demned criminals. They followed Jesus to the 
cross, perhaps are the women referred to in Luke 
23 : 27, and offered him, before his crucifixion, 
an anodyne composed of vinegar and gall, called 
by Mark 15 : 23, " wine and myrrh." He declined 
it because he would not meet death with a stu- 
pefied soul. Its object was to deaden his sen- 
sibilities (ver. 34; Mark is : 23). The cross was ex- 
tended on the ground and Jesus was nailed to 
it. At this time he uttered the prayer, "Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do " 
(Luke 23 : 34). The clothing of criminals was a 
perquisite of the Roman soldiers. They sat down 
at the foot of the cross to divide Christ's gar- 
ments. His tunic was a seamless robe of fine 
texture. One of the company produced dice, 
the Roman medium for gambling, and they com- 
menced to cast lots for the possession of this 



robe (vers. 35, 36). At a little distance stood a group 
of Galilean women, among whom was Mary. 
Jesus, in the midst of his own anguish, did not 
forget hers, and commended her to the keeping 
of the beloved disciple (John 19 : 20, 27). It was 
customary to bear before the prisoner, conr 
demned to death, an inscription which designated 
the crime for which he was condemned. This 
inscription, written by Pilate in the three lan- 
guages of the time, that of the court, Latin, that 
of the Gentile population, Greek, and that of the 
Jews, Hebrew or Aramaic, was fastened to the 
cross, above the head of the Divine Sufferer (ver. 37). 
With him were crucified two brigands (ver. 38, note). 
Of these one joined in the taunts of the mul- 
titude ; the other reproached his companion, con- 
fessed his sin, and appealed, not in vain, to the 
Saviour of sinners, for salvation (Luke 23 : 39-43). 
The priests, the soldiers, and those that passed by, 
taunted the Lord with his seeming impotency 
and approaching death ; hut he made no re- 
sponse (vers. 40--M ; Luke 23 : 36, 37). At length a 
preternatural darkness, such as often precedes 
an earthquake, began to gather over the scene. 
With a cry of agony, full of mystery to us, as it 
was to those who stood at the cross, he appealed 
to his God, who seemed to have forsaken him ; 
then cried with a loud voice, clear and full to 
the last, "It is finished!" and gave up the 
ghost (vers. 45-5o). It was three o'clock (the 
ninth hour), which was the hour of evening 
sacrifice. The long-presaged earthquake came. 
The veil of the Temple was rent, the graves were 
opened ; subsequently many bodies of the saints 
which slept arose. The sublimity of Christ's death, 
not less than the portents which accompanied it, 
wrung from the Roman centurion the confession 
"Truly this was the Son of God" (ver. 64; Murk 
is : 39). To hasten the death of the crucified the 
soldiers broke the the legs of the two thieves ; 
but seeing that Jesus was already dead, pierced 
his side, out of which came blood and water 
(John 19 : 31-42). The incidents of the weeping 
women, Christ's prayer for the forgiveness of his 
enemies, and the penitent thief, are peculiar to 
Luke ; see notes there. The reply of Pilate to 
the remonstrances of the priests against his in- 
scription, the women at the cross, and the pierc- 
ing of Christ's side, are peculiar to John ; see 
notes there. For the incidents peculiar to Mat- 
thew or common to the four Evangelists, see 
notes below. 

32. And as they came out. That is, from 
the city ; the place of execution was without the 
city walls (Heb. 13 : 12). This was customary 

among the JeWS (Numb. 15 : 35 ; 1 Kings 21 ; 13 ; Acts 7 : 58), 



314 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVII. 



and also among the Romans. — A man of Cy- 
rene, Simon by name. He is described by 
Mark, 15 : 21, as the father of Alexander and 
Rufus. It has been supposed by some that they 
are the persons mentioned in Romans 16 : 13 
and 1 Tim. 1 : 20 or Acts 19 : 33, but this is quite 
uncertain. Nothing more is known with cer- 
tainty of him ; but the hypothesis that he was a 
Jewish pilgrim from Africa is a reasonable one. 
Cyrene was a city of Libya, the capital of Cyre- 
naica ; it was founded by a colony of Greeks 
about b. c. 632 ; stood on table-land 1,800 feet 
above the level of the Mediterranean ; was at 
this time a Soman city, and united in govern- 
ment with the not distant island of Crete. 
That it was the abode of many Jews is indicated 
by Acts 6 : 9, from which it would appear that 
the Cyrenian Jews had a synagogue of their own 
in Jerusalem. Some of the first Christian teach- 



ers were Cyrenians (Acts n : so; is : i). — Him they 
impressed to bear his cross. This is the 
proper translation of the Greek. The Roman 
officer had official authority to press into the 
military service, for a special purpose, either 
horses or men. See note on Matt. 5 : 41. Jesus 
at first carried his own cross (John 19 : n), as the 
convict customarily did ; there is no positive 
authority for what is, however, a reasonable 
surmise, that, weakened by want of sleep and 
loss of blood, he was no longer able to sustain it. 
This opinion is embodied in ancient art, which 
represents him as sinking beneath the weight of 
the cross. 

33. Golgotha. A Hebrew word, meaning 
a skull. From its Latin equivalent calvarue 
comes our English word Calvary, which occurs 
in the English N. T. only in Luke 23 : 33, where 
it should be translated "a skull." The signifi- 




COLGOTHA. 

cance of the name is uncertain. Some suppose 
that it was the common place of execution, and 
that the skulls of those who were executed lay 
about ; others that it was a bare rounded knoll, 
in form like a skull. This opinion is the sole 
foundation for the almost universal impression 
that it was a hill. The location of this place of 
execution is unknown. There arc three hypo- 
thetical sites. The first, which is supported by 
an ancient tradition, is now occupied by the 
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, indicated in the 
accompanying cut by the dome to the reader's 
right. But the ancient traditions are of very 
small value in determining the Biblical sites ; the 
monks who designate the place of execution and 
burial, point out with equal certainty the holes 
in the rock in which the cross was planted ! If, 
as is probable, this site was then, as it is now, 
within the city walls, it cannot be the true Gol- 



gotha. The second hypothesis is 
that of Mr. Fergusson, who asserts 
that Golgotha was on Mount Mo- 
riah, and that the Mosque of Omar, 
or Dome of the Rock, to the read- 
er's left in the picture, covers the 
true site. He designates a cave 
beneath this dome as the probable burial-place. 
But this view, which rests mainly on architectu- 
ral arguments, based on the character of the 
Mosque of Omar, is not generally accepted by 
scholars, who are almost unanimous in the opin- 
ion that this Mosque occupies the site of the 
ancient temple. A third theory identifies Gol- 
gotha with the mound in the foreground of our 
illustration, now known as the Grotto of Jere- 
miah. It is situated about forty rods to the 
northeast of the Damascus gate. The cave 
sepulchre beneath is one of the largest in the 
country, and may have been the burial-place. 
But of this hypothesis we can only say that there 
is nothing, except its distance from the tower of 
Antonia, opposed to it. All that we can know of 
Golgotha is that it was near the city (John 19 : 20), 
apparently near a public highway (Mark 15 : 29), in 
the immediate vicinity of one of the gardens 



Ch. XXVII.] 



MATTHEW. 



315 



34 They gave him vinegar to drink, mingled ■ with 
gall : and when he had tasted thereof, he would not 
drink. 

35 And b they crucified him, and parted his garments, 



casting lots ; that it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken c by the prophet, They parted my garments 
among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 
36 And sitting down, they watched him there ; 



a Pb. 69 : 21 b Ps. 22 : 1G ; Mark 15 : 24, etc. ; Luke 23 : 34, etc. ; John 19 : 24, etc c Ps. 22 : 18. 



which surrounded Jerusalem (John 19: 41), and is, 
as indicated by Luke's language, " the place called 
the skull," a well-known spot. 

34. They gave to him vinegar to drink 
mingled with gall. Mark says, "wine min- 
gled with myrrh," but the difference is purely 
verbal. "As the wine used by the soldiers was 
a cheap, sour wine, little, if at all, superior to 
vinegar, and as myrrh, gall, and other bitter sub- 
stances are put for the whole class, there is 
really no difference in these passages." — {Alex- 
ander.) It was customary to give a stupefying 
drink to criminals on their way to execution. 
This was probably the draught offered to our 
Lord, perhaps by the women referred to in Luke 
23 : 27 ; see note there. Christ, when he knew 
from the taste its object, refused to partake, an 
indication that he deliberately chose to have all 
his powers alert at this last hour. There is no 
reason for the belief that it was offered to him 
twice, or in a spirit of rancor and scoffing. 

35, 36. And they (the soldiers) crucified 
him. According to Mark (15 : 25), it was the 
third hour ; that is, 9 a. m., but this may mean 
that the third hour had already passed. See 
John 19 : 11, note. — And parted his garments 
casting lots. Of this, John gives a fuller ac- 
count. See notes on John 19 : 23, 24. — That it 
might be fulfilled. This clause is omitted by 
all the best manuscripts and the best scholars. 
It was probably added in the margin by some 
ancient harmonist, from John 19 : 24. The refer- 
ence is to Psalm 22 : 18. — They watched him 
there. This was customary, to prevent the 
crucified person from being taken down by 
friends. There were four soldiers (John 19 : 23). 

The Natube of Crucifixion. — Crucifixion 
was used as a punishment by Grecians, Romans, 
Egyptians, and other nations, but not by the 
Jews. Its infliction by the Romans was a badge 
of Israel's servitude. To hang even a corpse 
upon a tree was accounted among them the 
greatest indignity (Deut. 21 : 22, 23). The lingering 
death of the cross rendered crucifixion eminent 
in cruelty even in that cruel age. Cicero called 
it a punishment most inhuman and shocking, and 
wrote of it that it should be removed from the 
eyes and ears and every thought of man. It was 
reserved by the Romans for slaves and foreign- 
ers. There were three forms of crosses, the first 
in the shape of the letter X, called the crux 
decussato, or, later, St. Andrew's Cross ; one in the 
form of the letter T, called the crux commissa, 




THE THREE CROSSES. 



or, later, St. Anthony's cross ; and third, the 
Latin cross, or crux immissa, like the preceding 
one, except that the upright beam projected 
above the horizontal one. There is also the 
Greek cross, consisting of two pieces of wood of 
equal length crossing each other at right angles 
in the centre. That the Latin cross was the one 
on which Jesus was crucified is indicated by uni- 
form tradition, and by the fact that the inscrip- 
tion was placed upon it over his head. The con- 
vict was fastened to the cross, sometimes as it 
lay upon the ground, sometimes after its erec- 
tion. In the former case the body was terribly 
wrenched when the cross was raised and dropped 
into its place ; the concussion often dislocated 
the limbs. To fasten the sufferer to the cross 
his hands were nailed to the crosspiece ; the feet 
were sometimes bound, sometimes nailed. That 
the latter course was adopted in the case of Christ 
is indicated, though not demonstrated, by Luke 
24 : 39, 40. The feet were probably nailed sepa- 
rately, not, as represented in most art, and purely 
for artistic reasons, with one foot lying over the 
other and both transfixed with one nail. Lest 
the hands and feet should not bear the strain, a 
little wooden pin projected just below the thigh, 
which afforded the body a partial though painful 
support. There was no support to the feet, 
though this is sometimes represented in art. The 
crucified person was not raised high in air ; his 
feet were but a little above the ground. In this 
respect the common art representations are not 
true to the facts. 

Thus, with no vital organ directly touched, the 
victim was left to die. The heat of the Oriental 
sun, the festering of the undressed wounds, the 
increased torment produced by every attempted 
movement to secure relief, the burning fever, the 
throbbing head, the intense thirst — all combined 
to make death by crucifixion as horrible as it was 
protracted. See an elaborate description of it in 
Farrar's Life of Christ, and one more scientifically 



316 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVII. 



37 And set up over his head, his a cusation written, 
THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 

38 Then were there two thieves" 1 crucified with him ; 
one on the right hand, and another on the left. 

39 And they that passed by reviled hirn, wagging e 
their heads, 

40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and 
buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the 
Son of God, come down from the cross. 

41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking f him, 
with the scribes and elders, said, 



42 He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he 
be the King of Israel, let him now come down from 
the cross, and we will believe him. 

43 He trusted in God ; lets him deliver him now, if 
he will have him ; for he said, h I am the Son of God. 

44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, 
cast the same in his teeth. 

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness' 
over all the land unto the ninth hour. 

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud 
voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to 
say,' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 



' r 7 ; 109 : 25. . . .f Job 13 : 9 ; Ps. 35 : 1G ; T=a. 28 : 22 ; Lute 18 : 32. ..g Ps. 3 : 2 ; 22 : 8 ; 42 : 10 ; 71 : 11. 
h John 5 : 17, 18 ; 10:30,36 i A..11. 8 : 9. . ..j Ps. 22 : 1 ; Isa. 53 : 10 ; Lam. 1 : 12. 



full in Stroud's Physical Cause of Christ's Death. 
So great were the tortures of this lingering death 
that there are many ancient instances of men 
who bought with large bribes the privilege of 
being executed in some other manner, and the 
death was ordinarily hastened by the wearied 
executioners, by a thrust with the spear or a blow 
with the club. 

37, 38. Set up over his head his accu- 
sation. It was customary to bear before the 
condemned an inscription which designated his 
crime, and which was subsequently attached to 
the cross. Such was this inscription. On the 
variations in the Evangelists' report of it, see 
John 19 : 19, 20, notes. — Two thieves. Rather, 
briga?icls, for this is the significance of the original 
(/.i;<mj's). It is not improbable that they be- 
longed to the band of which Barabbas was the 
leader (Mart 15 : 7). Christ's crucifixion between 
them was a literal fulfillment of prophecy (Mart 

15 : 28; Isaiah 53 : 12). 

39-43. The three Synoptists mention this 
mockery ; John does not. Three classes are de- 
scribed as participating in it. The passers-by 
(ver. 39), that is, those casually going to and from 
the city; the chief priests (ver. 41); and the sol- 
diers (Lute 23 : 3e). — Wagging their heads. A 
symbol of derision (jobiG:4; Psaim22:7) — Thou 
that destroyest the temple * * :: ' save 
thyself. The reference is to John 2 : 19, and 
the language here and in verses 62, 03, indicates 
that their misrepresentation of his language upon 
his trial (eh. 26 : 6i) was wilful. — He saved 
others. Not a real acknowledgment of his 
saving power ; the language is that of bitter 
irony. — Himself he cannot save. An uncon- 
scious utterance of the truth, like the accusation 
preferred against him as "a friend of publicans 
and sinners." If he had saved himself he could 
not have saved others (ch. 26 : 53, 64).— He is the 
King of Israel ! Not, according to the best 
manuscripts, If he be the King of Israel, as in our 
English version. The language is that of taunt, 
and refers to the inscription upon the cross ; 
and its object was, perhaps, in part to turn the 
edge of its sarcasm against the nation. " Ho ! 
Ho ! he is the king of Israel ! let him descend 
from the cross now, and we will believe in him." 



If he had done so it would have made no differ- 
ence in their belief, for they resisted the greater 
miracle of his resurrection (ch. 28 : 14, 15).- — Let 
him deliver him now if he will have him. 
A striking illustration of the false idea of special 
Providence. Many still think that he who seems 
to be deserted by God cannot be a son in whom 
he is well pleased, and that God may always be 
expected to interfere immediately to save his 
children from unjust suffering. Observe, by 
comparison with Psalm 22, written by David at 
least a thousand years before this time, a singular 
testimony to the inspiration of prophecy. 

44. The brigands also - * * * up- 
braided him. Luke 28 : 39 gives the lan- 
guage which seems to have been employed only 
by one. Of the penitence of the other, Matthew 
and Mark make no mention. The hypothesis 
that both at first reviled and one afterwards 
repented, a supposition entertained by some of 
the older commentators, is much less proba- 
ble than that Matthew and Mark omit, perhaps 
are not acquainted with, the incident of the peni- 
tent thief, and simply speak of the derision in 
general terms. 

45. From the sixth hour. Twelve o'clock. 
On the discrepancy between this verse and John 
19 : 14, see note there. — There was darkness 
over all the land until the ninth hour. 
That is, 3 p. m. It is neither necessary nor 
reasonable to suppose that this darkness envel- 
oped the whole earth. The original (yi,), here 
rendered land, is often used in the N. T. for a 
limited territory (Matt. 2 : 6, 20, 21 ■ 4: 15 j. 11 : 24; 14 : 34). 
The darkness could not have been produced by 
an eclipse, for the Passover was celebrated at the 
full moon, when the moon is opposite the sun. 
It may have been a natural phenomenon, premon- 
itory of the earthquake which followed. Stroud 
{Physical Cause of Christ's Death) gives a number 
of illustrations of similar phenomena of darkness 
connected with earthquakes or volcanoes. The 
fact is mentioned by the three Evangelists, but 
not by John ; and the early fathers appealed to 
profane testimony in attestation of it. Words- 
worth notes the contrast between this darkness 
and that in Egypt: "Then the Hebrews had 
light in their dwellings while the rest of Egypt 



Ch. XXVII. ] 



MATTHEW. 



317 



47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard 
that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 

48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a 



sponge, and filled it with * vinegar, and put it on a 
reed, and gave him to drink. 

49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will 
come to save him. 



was dark ; but now, when the true Passover is 
killed by them, they are in darkness, and the 
light of the Gospel is about to be poured on the 
Gentile world." It is not possible to misappre- 
hend the solemn significance of this act, repre- 
senting the sympathy oi nature with its crucified 
Lord ; nor necessary to attempt any detailed 
interpretation, such as that it represented his 
conflict with the powers of darkness and his 
present want of heavenly comfort {Matthew 
Henry), or God's detestation of the crime, and 
his future blinding of the Jewish nation {Calvin), 
or that the death of Christ was the going out 
of the light of the world {Adam Clarke). 

4G. Jesus when he had criei with a 
loud voice. Literally a great voice, i. e., with 
the voice still strong, unweakened by approach- 
ing death. On the significance of this fact see 
John 19 : 34, note.— Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani. 
Quoted from Psalm 22 : 1. The first two words 
are Hebrew, the latter two Chaldaic. Mark's 
language, Eloi, is a Syro-Chaldaic form, haying 
the same meaning. — My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me ? Dr. Adam Clarke, 
following Lightfoot, proposes to translate this 
To what {sort of persons, understood) hast thou 
forsaken me ? thus rendering it simply as an ex- 
pression of astonishment at the wickedness of 
his crucifiers ; but this appears to me untenable, 
because, though the language of Mark {etc ri ue 
iyxutiluisg) is capable of this translation, the 
language of Matthew {ivuti us, etc.) is not; and it 
weakens the force of the cry, and reduces it to a 
mere yielding at last to the taunts which up to 
this point Christ has borne in a sublime silence. 
Accepting our English translation as correct, how 
shall we understand it '? Certainly not {a) as the 
outcry " of the humanity of our Saviour and 
not of his divinity " {James Morison) ; for there 
is no Scriptural authority whatever for thus dis- 
criminating a part of Christ's life and experience 
as divine and a part as human, a refinement of 
scholastic theology which deprives both his ex- 
ample and his manifestation of the divine nature 
of their true meaning and power ; nor (6) as spo- 
ken in our name, and as a lesson for us that we 
should never despair, even though God hides his 
face from us ( Wordsworth). This lesson is sub- 
limely taught by the cry of Christ in this hour. 
But to suppose that he uttered it for the purpose, 
is to deprive it of all moral power, and to throw 
over his utterances, even the most solemn and 
sacred, the suspicion that they are not simple 



truth, but have been uttered for dramatic effect ; 
nor (c) that it is simply " an expression of agony 
couched in the devout language of Scripture." — 
{Furness.) Doubtless it is this; but Christ 
would not have taken the language of Scripture 
if it did not exactly express his experience. 
These are all evasions, not interpretations of the 
passage, (d.) Nor are we to hold ourselves de- 
barred from all endeavor to understand their 
meaning. — (Bloomfleld.) The words are written 
for our profit, though to be studied in humility, 
and with a consciousness that the experience 
which they indicate defies our analysis and tran- 
scends our perfect conception. The student 
may obtain some light in such a study from a 
consideration of the following facts : (1.) Jesus is 
represented in the N. T. as subject to the whole 
experience of spiritual conflict which belongs to 
man. No philosophy which ignores or elimi- 
nates this truth can interpret the temptation, or 
the agony in Gethsemane, or the cry upon the 

erOSS (comp. Matt. 4 : 1-11 ; Prel. Note, § 6, p. 39 ; ch. 26 : 36- 
46, note ; Lessons of Gethsemane, p. 293). (2.) He is repre- 
sented in the Prophets (isaiah 53 : 5, 6) and the Epis- 
tles (2 Cor. 5 : 21 ; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2 : 24) as taking Upon 

himself the penalty of our sins ; and the penalty 
of sin is represented throughout the Bible as 
spiritual separation from God (Dent. 32: 20 ; Prov. 1 : 

24-29 ; Isaiah 64 : 7 ; Micah 3 : 4; 2 Thess. 1 : 9). (3.) Some 

help toward an understanding of this cry may be 
derived from that phase of Christian experience 
in which, while the intellect still holds fast to its 
belief in God, the heart feels his presence no 
more, and the soul is in darkness, in spite of its 

faith in God (comp. Matt, ll : 1-6, note ; Exod. 17 : 4; 1 Kings 
19 : 10; Psalm 10 : 1 : Jer. 12 : 1, 2). (4.) That there Was 

an inward conflict in Christ's soul is indicated 
by the twofold nature of the cry; "J/yGod" 
indicates an unrelaxed hold on him; "forsaken 
me" indicates a sense of bereavement of the 
divine presence. If these are inconsistent, the 
inconsistency repeats itself frequently in Chris- 
tian experience. (5.) It expresses surprise, as 
though some new and unexpected anguish had 
been added to that already borne, and the indi- 
cation certainly is that a cry which neither the 
physical anguish nor the taunts of his foes could 
wring from his lips was wrung by this mysterious 
agony of separation from his God. (6.) It is 
the cry of innocence ; the lost know that they 
are forsaken, but know why, and do not call on 
God as their God. It was, therefore, no literal 
transfer of the experience of remorse and spir- 



318 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVII. 



50 Jesus, when he had crLd again with a loud voice, 
yielded up the ghost. 

51 And, behold, the veil 1 of the temple was rent™ in 
twain, from the top to the bottom ; and the earth did 
quake, and the rocks rent ; 



52 And " the graves were opened ; and many bodies 
of the saints which slept, arose, 

53 And came out of the graves >' after his resurrec- 
tion, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto 
many. 



1 Exod. 26 : 31 ; Lev. 16 : 2, 15 ; 21 



23; 2Chron. 3 : 14 
o Dau. 12 : 2 ; 



11 Isa. 25 : 8; 26 : 19 ; Hosea 13 : 14 : John 5 : 25, 28. 

...pi Ocr. 15 : 20. 



itual death which Christ experienced. Compare 
the evidence of the triumph of his faith in his 
last utterance, just before death (Luke 23:46.) 

47-49. This incident is recorded by all of the 
Evangelists. A comparison of their accounts is 
instructive, because it indicates the independ- 
ence and originality of the accounts. The vari- 
ations forbid the idea of collusion among the 
writers, or their acquaintance with each other's 
accounts, or a common origin. They are such as 
characterize independent and honest witnesses. 
Luke's account, which is less detailed, is simply 
that the soldiers offered Christ vinegar in 
mockery. John says that 
Christ said, "I thirst," 
and that the vinegar was 
offered in consequence ; 
Matthew that it was of- 
fered by one, and the rest 
objected ; Mark that he 
who oifered the drink 
said, Let alone, that is, 
Let this suffice, and see if 
Elias will come. From a 
comparison of these ac- 
counts it would appeai- 
that Christ followed the 
exclamation of the pre- 
ceding verse with an ex- 
pression of thirst, that 
the drink was offered by 
one of the soldiers, in a 
spirit of commingled pity 
and contempt, and that 
the others objected as 
reported here. Alford 
thinks that the language 
here could not have been 
used by the soldiers, 
" who knew nothing about 
Elias." But it is not by 
any means certain that 
they did not know the 
current Jewish belief that 
the coming of the Messiah 
was to be preceded by a 
coming of Elijah (Matt. 16 : 
14 ; 17 : 10). In that case the 
language here would be 
partly a misunderstanding 
hyssop — of Christ's words and 

Organum mai-u. partly a mockery. The 



vinegar (posca) was a cheap sour wine, mixed 
with water, which was a common drink, espe- 
cially for the poorer classes and for soldiers. A 
vessel filled with it stood near the cross (john 19 : 29), 
probably belonging to the soldiers, an additional 
indication that it was offered not by one of the 
Jews, but by a 6oldier. The " reed " is described 
by John as the hyssop, by many scholars thought 
to be the caper-plant (Arabic lysnp), which 
grows in dry and rocky places and on walls, and 
is capable of producing a stick three or four feet 
in length. As the crucified was raised but a little 
above the ground, such a reed would suffice to 
reach the sufferer's lips. Dr. Post of Syria, how- 
ever (Smith's Bib. Diet., Art. Hyssop), argues 
against this supposition, on account of the thorny 
character of the plant, and proposes in lieu of it 
the Organum man, which grows on the walls of 
all the terraces throughout Palestine and Syria, 
has a slender stem, free from thorns and spread- 
ing branches, and ending in a cluster of heads, 
having a highly aromatic odor, and thus exactly 
fitted to be made into a bunch for the purposes 
of sprinkling, for which purpose it was used in 
O. T. times in purification. He thus thinks this 
plant, of which we give an illustration from his 
drawing, best answers the Scripture reference to 
the hyssop of the Bible (Exod. 12: 22; Lev. 14 -.4, 51 ; 

Numb. 19 : 6, 18 ; 1 Kings 4 : S3 ; Ps. 51 : 7 : Heb. 9 : 19). 

When he had cried with a loud voice. 

See on verse 46, and Note on Physical Cause of 
Christ's Death, John 19 : 34. Comparing ac- 
counts in Luke and John it appears that he first 
cried with a loud, i. e., clear, strong voice, "It 
is finished," then, perhaps, in a more subdued 
tone, " Father, into thy hands I commend my 
spirit." — Yielded up the ghost. Nothing 
concerning the voluntary character of his death 
is fairly deducible from these words, which are 
simply a common expression for death. See 
Gen. 35 : 18, where in the Septuagint the language 
rendered "Her soul was in departing," is sub- 
stantially the same employed here. 

51-53. These incidents are rejected by ration- 
alistic critics as mythical additions to the his- 
torical narratives of the crucifixion. There is, 
however, nothing whatever in the state of the 
text to throw any doubt over their genuineness. 
If expunged, it must be wholly, because they are 
regarded as inherently incredible. Those who 
believe, as I do, that God is the Lord of Nature, 
and that he sometimes teaches sublime truths by 




tuD 

o 



Pi 



T5 
£ 

^ 



Ch. XXVIL] 



MATTHEW. 



319 



54 Now' when the centurion, and they that were 
with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and 
those things that were done, they feared greatly, say- 
ing, Truly this was the Son of God. 

55 And many women were there, beholding afar off, 



which' followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto 
him: 

56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary 
the mother of James andjoses, and the mother of Zeb- 
edee's children. 



q Mark 15 : 39 ; Luke 23 : 47, etc. . . . r Luke 8 : 2, 3. 



a sublime symbolism, will find nothing incredible 
in the narrative if it is properly comprehended. 
The only question to such will be, Is it adequately 
authenticated ? The rending of the vail is nar- 
rated by the three Synoptists. It might easily 
have become known through some of the "great 
company of priests," who early became Christ's 
disciples (Acts 6 : 7). Apart from such testimony 
it can hardly fail to have become known. If it 
did not occur, the story could have been easily 
and completely refuted at any time prior to the 
destruction of Jerusalem by the vail itself, and 
at any time subsequent thereto, and during that 
generation, by the testimony of living priests. 
Neander {Life of Christ), refers to the later tra- 
ditions, that a beam over the Temple broke, 
and that about forty years before the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem the Temple doors, though 
securely locked, suddenly burst open, as afford- 
ing incidental confirmation of this narrative, from 
which, perhaps, they sprang. The earthquake 
and resurrection are peculiar to Matthew. The 
account of the earthquake accords with and 
explains the preternatural darkness described by 
all the Synoptists, and it is incidentally confirmed 
by the rents and fissures now found in the vicinity 
of Jerusalem, and indicating volcanic action. 
But for the resurrection we have only Matthew's 
testimony, and he does not claim to have been 
an eye-witness. He does not say the saints ap- 
peared to him, but to "mare?/." It is not re- 
ferred to by subsequent writers ; and its omission 
by Paul, in 1 Cor. ch. 15, where it certainly would 
have added strength to his argument if the fact 
were generally known in the Christian church, 
is worthy of note. I judge, then, that certainly the 
rending of the vail, and perhaps the earthquake, 
is as well authenticated as any event recorded 
in the N. T. ; but that the resurrection is less so. 
The incidents are confirmed, however, by their 
religious significance and their accordance with 
other N. T. teachings. The rending of the vail, 
which hung before the Holy of Holies (see note 
below), indicates that in the death of Christ the 
whole world has access to God ; the resurrection, 
that in his life all his people have resurrection 
and life eternal. The first is interpreted by Heb. 
10 : 19-31, which, with Alford, I believe has a 
reference to the fact here stated ; the other by- 
John 11 : 25. Comp. for both, Rom. 5 : 10. 

The vail of the Temple. — This was avail 
which hung before the door of the Holy of Holies ; 
the apartment which contained the Ark of the 



Covenant. This ark, containing the sacred law, 
and comprising the mercy-seat below the cher- 
ubim, was the peculiar shrine of the Godhead. 
Only the high-priest could enter this apart- 
ment, and he but once a year (Exod. ao : 10 ; Lev. 
16 : 2-19) to sprinkle blood upon the mercy-seat, 
to blot out the transgressions which the law 
within the ark was ever charging against the 
people. The rending of this vail unmistakably 
indicated that the final sacrifice had been now 
made, for all time, and that henceforth access 
to God, through Christ's death, was open to all. 
— The earth did quake. Alford says, "not 
an ordinary earthquake." What he means, 
I do not understand. The language implies 
nothing extraordinary in the earthquake, except 
in the incidents which accompanied it. The 
earthquake was to the reverent Jew associated 
with the presence of God, and regarded as a 

peculiar token Of his pOWer (Judges 5:4; 2 Sam. 22 : 8 ; 
Ps. 77 : 18 ; 97 : 4 ; 104 : 32 ; Amos 8:8; Hab. 3 : lo). — And 

the graves were opened. Graves or sepul- 
chres were commonly made in caves, hewn in 
the rock ; these were broken open by the earth- 
quake. — Many bodies of holy men. There is 
nothing in the language to indicate whether pa- 
triarchs and other saints of olden times, or disci- 
ples of Christ who had died, as Simeon, Hannah, 
Zachariah, John the Baptist, and Joseph. — And 
coming out of the graves, after his resur- 
rection, went into the holy city. That 
is, into Jerusalem. The original is ambiguous, 
as is my translation, on the point whether the 
resurrection or only the going into the holy city, 
was subsequent to Christ's resurrection. The 
former opinion best accords with 1 Cor. 15 : 23. 
If we suppose, as I do, with Alford, Wordsworth 
and the early fathers, that these saints rose with 
the glorified body (i Cor. 15 : 51-53), and ascended 
with their Lord, into heaven, the incident is 
wholly in accordance with the N. T. doctrine of 
resurrection, and is indeed a sublime teaching 
of that doctrine. See 1 Cor. ch. 15, and 1 Thess. 
4 : 13-17. 

54. The centurion. An officer of the Ro- 
man army answering to the captain in our own 
organization. He commanded a century, an- 
swering to our "company," originally a hundred 
men, subsequently from fifty to a hundred. The 
annexed cuts present the figures of two centu- 
rions from ancient bas-reliefs. — And they that 
were with him. The four soldiers (John 19 : 23) 
appointed to guard the cross. The feeling of 



320 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVII. 




TWO CENTURIONS. 

awe, according to Luke, extended to all the by- 
standers (Luke 23 : 48). Mark, who says nothing of 
the earthquake, attributes the centurion's awe 
to the manner of Christ's death (Mark 15 : 39, note). 
Doubtless both Christ's personal character and 
the phenomena of nature which accompanied 
his death, contributed to produce the impres- 
sion. Lange notes the triumvirate of Roman 
soldiers bearing testimony to Christ — the centu- 
rion in Capernaum (Matt. 8 : 5-10), the one here 
mentioned, and Cornelius at Caesarea (Acts, ch. 10). 
—Truly this was a Son of God. Not the 
Son of God. Neither here nor in Mark is there 
the definite article. Luke's report is " This was 
a righteous man," i. e., innocent. It is a gratui- 
tous assumption to presume that the officer was 
wholly ignorant of the Jewish meaning attached 
to the term, "Son of God." Two charges had been 
preferred against Jesus — blasphemy in making 
himself the Son of God, and sedition against the 
Roman government. Pilate had publicly and 
repeatedly acquitted him of the second charge, 
and the first had been publicly repeated by the 
priests to Pilate (John 19 : 6, 7). These facts inter- 
pret the centurion's testimony here, namely, He 
is innocent of the crime of sedition (Luke), and is 
what he claimed to be, a Son of God. But it 
would be attributing to this Roman soldier a 
marvelous proficiency in theological knowledge 
to interpret this as a conscious testimony to the 
divinity of Jesus Christ, in the modern sense of 
that term. For similar use of language by a 
heathen, see Dan. 3 : 25. Sophocles' Dictionary 
refers to the use of this phrase, "Son of God," 
among heathen writers, as equivalent, or nearly 
equivalent, to a just or perfect man. Observe 
that he says not is but was a Son of God ; evi- 
dently in his thought the death of Christ was 
the end. It is worth noticing that the cross had 
greater effect on the centurion, who was before 
simply ignorant of and indifferent to Christ, than 
on the Pharisees, who had the advantage of him 
in religious knowledge and culture, but had 
steeled themselves against the truth. 

55, 56. The attendance of women at the cross 
is mentioned by the four Evangelists, but Luke 



does not give their names, and adds that "all 
his acquaintance " were there. The disciples, 
then, were eye-witnesses of the crucifixion. On 
the proper harmony of Matthew, Mark, and 
John here, partly depends the question whether 
the brethren of our Lord mentioned in the N. T. 
were true brethren or only kinsfolk. See tabu- 
lar statement and comparison of the accounts, 
and my conclusion respecting them, on p. 110. 
Observe that these were not the women referred 
to in Luke who followed him weeping. They 
were of Jerusalem (Luke 23 : 28) ; these were all 
Galileans.— Afar off. Probably on account of 
the danger of recognition if they approached too 
near. Art, which represents them close by, 
sometimes even embracing the cross, is not true 
to history.— Mary Magdalene. That is, Mary 
of Magdala. She is described as one out of 
whom our Lord cast seven devils (Mark 16 : 9). 
This fact and her presence at the crucifixion and 
the sepulchre (ver. 61), and our Lord's appearance 
to her, and her report of his resurrection to the 
disciples, are all that is known of her. There is 
no ground whatever for identifying her with thu 
woman that was a sinner, mentioned in Luke 7 : 
36-50, and none, therefore, for the popular idea 
that her early life was profligate. Yet that idea 
is all but universal. The name is applied to 
women who have fallen from chastity ; institu- 
tions for the reformation of such women are 
known as Magdalene asylums ; an order of nuns, 
in the Romish church, composed chiefly of peni- 
tent courtesans, is called Magdalenes, and is 
dedicated to Mary Magdalene — a curious illus- 
tration of the extent to which an entirely ground- 
less idea may gain popular and unquestioned ac- 
ceptance. — Mary the mother of James. De- 
scribed by John, 19 : 25, as "the wife of Cleophas," 
elsewhere called Alphseus (Matt. 10:3). Cleophas 
and Alphseus are different Greek forms of the 
same Hebrew word. The James here mentioned 
is James the Less, the brother of Joses. Nothing 
is known of his mother except the information 
given here and in the accounts of her visit to the 
sepulchre with Mary Magdalene (Matt. 28 : 1-11 ; Mark 
16 : 1-8; Luke 24 : l-ii). — The mother of Zebedee's 
children. Jsmes and John (Matt. 10 : 2). Her 
name was Salome (Mark 15 : 40) ; and she is, I be- 
lieve, to be identified with the one described in 
John (19 : 25, note) as the " sister of Jesus' mother." 
Her ambitious request for the preferment of her 
two sons (Matt. 20:20,21) and her presence at the 
crucifixion and the sepulchre, are the only refer- 
ences to her in the N. T. Nothing is known of 
her subsequent history. 

57-61 . The Burial of Jesus' Body. Comp. 
Mark 15 : 42-57 ; Luke 23 : 50-56 ; John 19 : 38-42. 
John's account is the fullest ; see notes there 
for all that is common to the four Evangelists, 
and for some account of Jewish burials and 



Oh. XXVII] 



MATTHEW. 



321 



57 When ■ the even was come, there came a rich man 
of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was 
Jesus' disciple : 

58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. 
Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 

59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped 
it in a clean linen cloth, 



60 And • laid it in his own new tomb, which he had 
hewn out in the rock : and he rolled a great stone to 
the door of the sepulchre, and departed. 

61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other 
Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre. 

62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the 
preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came to- 
gether unto Pilate, 



Mark 15 : 42, 43 ; Luke 23 : 50-53 ; John 19 : i 



burial-places. Prior to the burial the soldiers 
made sure of Christ's death by piercing his side 
with the spear (John 19 : 34). — When the even 
was come. In Jewish and Grecian reckoning 
there were two evenings, the first commencing 
with the declining sun, the second with the set- 
ting sun (ch. 26 : 20, note) ; comp. Exod. 12 : 6, marg. 
reading, " between the two evenings ; " similarly 
in Numb. 9:3; 28 : 4. The first evening must 
be indicated here, for it was during the prepa- 
ration- — A rich man. Of Arimathea. He is 
described as a councillor, that is, a member of 
the Sanhedrim, by Mark and Luke, who give 
some insight into his character. John says that 
he was a disciple secretly, for fear of the Jews. 
Nicodemus came with him, bringing material for 
anointing the body (John 19 : 39).— Then Pilate 
commanded the body to be delivered. 
He first assured himself of Christ's death, by 
inquiring of the centurion (Mark is : 44, 45). — In his 
own new tomb. Matthew alone describes it 
as Joseph's tomb. It was in a garden, and near 
the place of crucifixion (John 19:41). For descrip- 
tion and plan of the Jewish tomb see notes on 
Mark 16 : 3. A comparison of the accounts in the 
original indicates that this was an artificial exca- 
vation in the rock, not cut downward after the 
manner of a modern grave, but horizontally, 
after the manner of a modern tomb. For expla- 
nation and illustration of the Jewish method of 
closing the door of such a sepulchre by a circu- 
lar stone rolled in front of it, see Mark 16 : 3, 4, 
note.— The other Mary. The mother of Jo- 
ses (Mark 15 : 47). See note on ver. 56, above. From 
this sorrowful watch they returned home to pre- 
pare spices and ointments for the further anoint- 
ing of Jesus' body (Luke 23 : 55, 56). As they went 
direct from the place of execution to the grave, 
they probably knew nothing about the guard 
given by Pilate ; hence, this did not occur to 
them as a difficulty when they visited the sepul- 
chre to complete the anointing (Mark 16 : 2, 3). 

Ch. 27 : 62-66. A GUARD FOR THE SEPULCHRE OB- 
TAINED. — CHBIST CANNOT BE SO ENTOMBED BUT THAT 
HE WILL RISE AGAIN.— THIS ILLUSTRATED IN PROV- 
ERBS : e. g., " Truth against the world ; " " Truth 

CRUSHED TO EARTH WILL RISE AGAIN;" " It TAKES 
MANT SHOVELFULS OF EARTH TO BURT THE TRUTH." 

Illustrated in history: e. g., the Reformation, 
the Puritan movement, the Methodist movement. 



This incident is peculiar to Matthew. It is at- 
tacked not only by rationalistic critics, but even 
given up by Meyer and Olshausen. The objec- 
tions to the narrative are fairly given and, as it 
seems to me, adequately answered in Alford's 
note, which I therefore transcribe. "The chief 
difficulties found in it seem to be: (l.)How 
should the chief priests, etc., know of Ids having 
said, 'in three days I will rise again,' when the 
saying was hid even from his own disciples ? The 
answer to this is easy. The meaning of the say- 
ing may have been, and was, hid from the disci- 
ples ; but the fact of its having been said could be 
no secret. Not to lay any stress on John 2 : 19, 
we have the direct prophecy of Matt. 12 : 40, and 
besides this, there would be a rumor current, 
through the intercourse of the Apostles with 
others, that he had been in the habit of so say- 
ing. (To this I may add the possible testimony 
of Judas Iscariot to the priests.) As to the un- 
derstanding of the words, we must remember 
that hatred is keener-sighted than love; that the 
raising of Lazarus would show what sort of a thing 
rising from the dead vias to be ; and that the fulfil- 
ment of the Lord's announcement of his cruci- 
fixion would naturally lead them to look further, 
to what more he had announced. (2.) How should 
the women, who were solicitous about the 
removal of the stone, not have been still more so 
about its being sealed, and a guard set? The 
answer to this is (see notes heiow), they were not aware 
of the circumstance, because the guard teas not set 
till the evening before. There would be no need 
of the application before the approach of the third 
day — it is only made for a watch "until the 
third day " (ver. 64), and it is not probable that the 
circumstance would transpire that night — cer- 
tainly it seems not to have done so. (3.) That 
Gamaliel was of the council, and if such a thing as 
this, and its sequel (ch. 23 : 11-15) had reallyhappened, 
he need not have expressed himself doubtfully 
(Acts 5: 39), but would have been certain that this 
was from God. But, first, it does not neces- 
sarily follow that every member of the Sanhedrim 
was present and applied to Pilate (see note on ver. 62), 
or even had they done so, that all bore a part in 
the bribery of the soldiers (ch. 28 : 12). One who, 
like Joseph, had not consented to their deed be- 
fore — and we may safely say that there were others 
such — would naturally withdraw himself from 



322 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVII. 



63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver" 
said, while he was yet alive, After" three days I will 
rise again. 

64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made 
sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by 
night, and™ steal him away, and say unto the people, 



He is risen from the dead : so the last error shall be 
worse than the first. 

65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch : go your 
way, make it as sure as ye can. 

66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, Seal- 
ing * the stone, and setting a watch. 



u John 7 : 12, 47 j 2 Cor. 6:8 v ch. 10 : 21 ; 17 : 23 ; 20 : 19 ; Luke 24 : 6, 7 ; John 2 : 19 w ch. 28 : 13 x Dan. 6:17. 



further proceedings against the person of Jesus. 
(4.) Had this been so, the three other Evangelists 
would not have passed over so important a testi- 
mony to the Resurrection. But surely we can- 
not argue in this way — for thus every fact nar- 
rated by one Miangelist alone must be rejected — 
such as the satisfaction of Thomas (john 20 : 24-29), 
which stands in much the same relation, and 
other such narrations. Till we know much more 
about the circumstances under which, and the scope 
with which each Gospel was compiled, all a priori 
arguments of this kind are good for nothing.'''' (To 
which add the consideration that Matthew, who 
wrote for the Jews, among whom the story of 
the stealing of the body had been circulated 
(ch. 28 : 15), was the one most likely to afford this 
explanation and refutation of that rumor.) 

62. The day that followed the day of 
preparation. That is, on the Sabbath. The 
Jews, who did not hesitate to violate the law in 
the condemnation of Christ, and even to invoke 
the Gentile penalty of crucifixion on one of their 
own nation, would not have hesitated to employ 
the Sabbath hours, if necessary, to consummate 
their work. There is no good reason to suppose, 
therefore, that they waited until Sabbath even- 
ing ; on the other hand, the guard would not 
have been set until eve, because there was no 
danger that the grave, which was near a public 
highway, would be rifled during the day (see next 
verse). So the women, who came to the sepulchre 
the next day (Mark io : 1-3), may very likely have 
known nothing of the guard. — The chief 
priests and Pharisees. Not necessarily, nor 
even probably, a formal meeting of the Sanhe- 
drim. It is not the usual formula used to de- 
scribe such a meeting. Comp. ch. 26 : 57 ; 27 : 1. 

63,64. After three days I will rise 
again. The reference is probably to John 2 : 19, 
which prophecy of Christ's was made directly 
to the priests and in Jerusalem. This would be 
interpreted to them by his language in Matt. 
12 : 39, 40. — Lest his disciples come by 
night. The guard then would not have been 
stationed till nightfall, i. e., of Saturday, the 
Jewish Sabbath. — And steal him away. 
They judged the disciples by themselves. They 
would not have hesitated to employ such a trick 
for such a purpose. — The last error shall be 
worse than the first. Observe that they rec- 
ognize and unconsciously enforce the argument 
from the resurrection. Granted that Christ rose 



from the dead, and all that is involved in faith in 
a supernatural Christianity follows. Observe, 
too, that they were sincere in their belief that 
Christ and his disciples were deceivers. If they 
had not really feared such a deceit, they would 
not have applied to Pilate for a guard to prevent 
it. For it is absurd to suppose that they really 
anticipated the resurrection and thought a Ro- 
man seal and guard would prevent it. It is the 
effect of pride and passion to blind men, not only 
to the truth, but also to moral qualities in better 
men ; they are given up to strong delusion to be- 
lieve a lie (2 Thcss. 2 : 11). 

65, 66. Have ye a watch. The original 
verb (l/ita) may be the imperative or the indica- 
tive. It seems better to render it imperative. — 
(So Meyer and De Wette.) It is not a mere 
statement that they have a guard — if they had 
one there was no occasion for the application — 
but a direction to them to take one. It was evi- 
dently a guard of Roman soldiers, but, by 
Pilate's orders, placed under command of the 
priests ; and to them the guard reported the res- 
urrection in the first instance (ch. 28 : 11). The 
term watch (xovozwdla) is general, and does not 
indicate of what number of men it consisted. 
There is no reason for supposing with Barnes 
there were sixty, or with Gray that there were 
four. — Make it fast, as ye know how. This 
is the literal rendition of the original. The guard 
was given to them, and they were at liberty to take 
what measures they saw fit to secure the tomb. 
Thus God's providence ordained that Christ's 
enemies should furnish a part of the evidence of 
Christ's resurrection. But for the priests' pre- 
caution, their story of a robbery of the tomb 
might have gained a credence which is now at- 
tached to it by no one.— Sealing the stone. It 
was common to seal the doors of tombs with wax 
or clay (comp. Dan. 6 : 17). Such seals are described 
by Wilkinson as still found in Egypt. In this 
case the sealing was probably done by passing a 
cord across the stone at the mouth of the sepul- 
chre, and fastening it at either end by the seal- 
ing clay. On the bearing of this fact on the res- 
urrection of our Lord, see note on the Resurrec- 
tion of our Lord at close of next chapter 

Ch. 28 : 1-17. THE RESURRECTION OP JESUS CHRIST. 

— HOW ATTESTED: BY SKEPTICAL AND RELUCTANT 
WITNESSES ; BY THE TOWER OP A LIVING AND LIFE- 
GIVING Lord ; by the Sabbath Day. See Note on 



Oh. XXVIII.J 



MATTHEW. 



323 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

IN? the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn to- 
ward the first day of the week, came Mary Mag- 
dalene, 2 and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. 



2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for 
the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and 
came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat 
upon it. 



y Mark 16:1; Luke 24 : 1, etc. ; John 20 : 1, etc ch. 27 : 56. 



Resurrection of our Lord below. — What it at- 
tests : the divine nature of Christianity (Acts 
2 : 22-24) ; the present power of Christ (Rom. 5 : 
11) ; the future life of the believer (1 coi\ 15 : 
20-23).— If we follow the commands of love, God 
will roll away all stonbs. Comp. Mark 15 : 3. — 
The risen Christ brings fear to foe and joy to 
friend (ver. 4, 5). — Whoever truly seeks Christ 
need not fear, though at first he does not fend 
him. — The sepulchre is always empty; the be- 
loved have arisen (Luke 24 : 5 ; John 11 : 26).— The 
message of the Gospel inspires the bearer with 
alacrity (ver. 8). — The obduracy of wilful unbe- 
lief (ver. 11-15; comp. Luke 16 : 31).— Skepticism is 
not modern : it has been in the Church from the 
beginning (ver. 17). 

Of the Resurrection we have accounts material- 
ly different, though not inconsistent, in the four 
Evangelists, and some additional particulars from 
Paul, in 1 Cor. 15 : 3-8. On the apparent discrep- 
ancies and real harmony of the Evangelical ac- 
counts see Note on Resurrection of our Lord, 
p. 330. Of the four Evangelists Matthew gives 
the briefest and least detailed account. He 
wrote the Gospel, possibly in Hebrew, probably 
for Jewish converts (see intro.,p. 43), and appears to 
have only narrated enough of the circumstances 
connected with Christ's resurrection to explain 
and neutralize the Rabbinical story that the 
body had been stolen. In this he succeeded ; 
this report is no longer current even in Jewish 
literature (see below on vers. 11-15). He alone reports 
this attempt to explain away the resurrection. 

1. In the end of the Sabbath, as it began 
to dawn toward the first of the week. 
There is some difficulty respecting the construc- 
tion of the original Greek here, but none re- 
specting its substantial meaning. It is literally, 
In the end of the Sabbath, in the dawning toward 
the first of the Sabbath. The latter phrase, The 
first of the Sabbath, is equivalent to The first day 
after the Sabbath, the Hebrews being accus- 
tomed to designate the days of the week in this 
manner, as The first of the Sabbath, The second 
of the Sabbath, etc. The first clause may be ren- 
dered At the end of the Sabbath (so Lightfoot and 
Alford), or After the Sabbatli (so Olshausen, De 
Wette, Norton, Robinson, Crosby and others), 
and this better represents the meaning, as the 
Jewish Sabbath extended from nightfall to 
nightfall. The time was probably just be- 
tween night and Sunrise (comp. Mark 16 : 2 with John 

so:i). The latter clause of the verse here, In 



the dawning of the first day of the week, 
defines the first clause, In the end of the 
Sabbath, which otherwise might be taken to 
mean at nightfall of the Sabbath. — Came Mary- 
Magdalene and the other Mary. That is, 
the mother of Joses (Matthew 27 : 56, note). Salome 
was with them (Mark 16 : 1) ; perhaps others (Luke 
24 : 1). — To contemplate the sepulchre. This 
appears to be the meaning of the original here. 
It was an errand of sorrowful love, easily inter- 
preted by our common experience of grief. 
They also proposed to complete the anointing 
of the body (Mark 16 : 1), which they could not 
lawfully do on the Sabbath. 

2. And behold there was a great com- 
motion. This is the literal meaning of the word 
(aeioui'ig), rendered earthquake. It is rendered 
tempest in Matt. 8 : 24. It is not necessary to un- 
derstand an earthquake in the ordinary sense of 
that term. Probably it was a purely local and su- 
pernatural disturbance, for the purpose of open- 
ing the grave, though possibly an after-trembling, 
following the earthquake of the crucifixion. 
Such after-convulsions are not uncommon. 
There is no good authority for the rendering of 
the marginal reading of our Bibles, "There had 
been an earthquake." The verb (iyivero) is in 
the imperfect tense. Whether the women were 
witnesses of this commotion is another matter. 
It seems to me clearly, from Mark 16 : 2-4, Luke 
24 : 2, and John 20 : 1, that the stone had been 
rolled away before they arrived ; and from John 
20 : 11-15 that they could not have witnessed the 
commotion and the first angelic appearance. — 
An angel from heaven. Not the angel, a 
term used in the Old Testament generally, if not 
always, to designate a particular person, and, as 

1 believe, Jesus Christ himself. Here and in 
ch. 1 : 20 and 2 : 13, the definite article is want- 
ing, and the translation should be, as in ch. 

2 : 19, an angel. On the Scripture teaching con- 
cerning angels see Luke 1 : 11. All the Gospels 
unite in representing angelic appearances at the 
tomb, though they differ in their descriptions. 
See page 330, Note on the Resurrection of our 
Lord, § 1. Mark and Luke describe the persons 
as "men," according to the appearance; Mat- 
thew and John as angels, according to the reality. 
That there were two angels is clear from John's 
more minute account (John 20 : 12), confirmed 
by Luke (chapter 24 : 4). Matthew and Mark men- 
tion only one angel, perhaps because they knew 



324 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVIII. 



3 His" countenance was like lightning, and his rai- 
ment white as snow : 

4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and be- 
came as dead men. 

5 And the angel answered b and said unto the 
women, Fear not ye : tor c I know that ye seek J esus, 
which was crucified. 



6 He is not here ; for he is risen, as he said. 4 Come, 
see the place where the Lord lay. 

7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is 
risen e from the dead ; and, behold, he goeth before you 
into Galilee ; there ' shall ye see him : lo, I have told 
you. 

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre, 



a Pa. 104 : 4 ; E.ek. 1 : 4-14 ; Dan. 10 : 6 ; Rev. 1 : 14-16 b Heb. 1 : 14 c Ps. 105 : 3. 4 d ch. 27 : 63. . . e Luke 24 : 34 • 

1 Cor. 15 : 4....f vers. 16,17. 



only of one, not getting the details fully, perhaps 
because one was prominent as the speaker. Comp. 
similar discrepancy between Matt. 8 : 28 and Luke 
8 : 27, and again, Matt. 20 : 30 with Luke 18 : 35. 
— Rolled back the stone. The grave was 
not opened by the commotion or earthquake, 
but the commotion or earthquake accompanied 
the rolling back of the stone. It is not neces- 
sary to suppose that the resurrection accompa- 
nied the earthquake. "It was not for Him, to 
whom (John 20 : 19, 20) the stone was no hindrance, 
but for the women and the disciples that it was 
rolled away." — (Alford.) Also to emphasize the 
fact of resurrection, which else might have been 
thought a trick of legerdemain, perpetrated by 
the disciples. For plan of tomb with its door 
of stone see Mark 16 : 3. — And sat upon it. 
As a symbol of the completeness of the victory 
over death, as the conqueror might sit on the 
prostrate form of his foe, which is here rep- 
resented by the sealed door of the tomb. 

3, 4. His countenance was like light- 
ning. That is, in its vivid brightness. Comp. 
Exodus 34 : 29, 30 ; Matthew 17 : 2 ; Rev. 1 : 14. 
-His raiment white as snow. A symbol 
of purity and of fellowship with God. Eev. 
3:4, 5, 18 ; 4:4; 6 : 11 ; 7 : 9-13. There is 
some significance in the fact that in all these 
cases in Revelation the white robe is the dress 
not of an angel proper, but of a departed saint. 
Coupling this fact with the statements in Mark 
and Luke, may we not reasonably suppose that 
these were the spirits of men, possibly the 
Moses and Elijah who had appeared on the 
Mount of Transfiguration with their Lord ? If 
so, they bore an additional testimony to the res- 
urrection. — And for fear of him the keepers ; 
that is, the Roman guard mentioned in the pre- 
ceding verse. — Did shake with fear, and 
became as dead ; apparently swooned away 
with their terror. 

5-7. The angel answered. To the un- 
spoken fear of the women. — Unto the women. 
It is a reasonable hypothesis that Mary Magda- 
lene, believing that the sepulchre had been 
rifled, ran back to the city at once (John 20 : 1, 2) to 
report the fact to the disciples, and was not 
present at the interview which followed. This 
not unreasonable supposition harmonizes the ac- 
count here with that in John. If Mary Magda- 



lene received the tidings of the resurrection from 
the angels, she would not have addressed the 
supposed gardener as she did, with entreaty for 
a return of the body (John 20 : 15). — Fear not ye. 
The pronoun ye is emphatic. To these disciples 
the resurrection of their Lord was no cause for 
fear, but for rejoicing. So his final coming will 
be cause of terror to the unbelieving, but not to 
his own followers. Comp. Psalm 98 : 8, 9 with 
Rev. 1 : 7. Observe how the shepherds are cau- 
tioned against fear in the birth of Christ (Luke 
2 : 10), and the disciples on his appearance to 
them in trouble (John 6 : 20), and in the hour of his 
resurrection. — For I know that ye seek Je- 
sus the crucified. Whoever is honestly and 
earnestly seeking Jesus the crucified need not 
fear, even though he has not consciously found him 
(psalm 105 : 3). Observe that to the angel he is, as 
to the redeemed in heaven, the Lamb as it were 
slain (Rev. 5:6; 7:9). — For he is risen. The 
women then had not seen him rise. — As he 
said. Luke's report is fuller (ch. 24 : 6, 7). For 
Christ's prophecies of his resurrection see Matt. 
16 : 21 ; 17 : 23. — Come, see the place where 
the Lord lay. Emphatic ; not your Lord, in 
which case it might merely mean master or 
seignior ; but ilie Lord (o hvqioc). With the 
definite article this word is in the Gospels equiv- 
alent to God. See Matt. 1 : 22 ; 5 : 33 ; Luke 
1 : 6. They were to come into the tomb and see 
for themselves that he was not there. — Tell his 
disciples. Especially Peter (Mark 16:7). — He 
goeth before you. This language does not 
imply a literal traveling by Christ. The angel 
refers to the Lord's last prophecy of his resur- 
rection, which contained a promise couched in 
almost these very words (Matt. 26 : 32). — I have 
told you. Another and further assurance of 
the truth of this unexpected glad tidings. 

8. They departed quickly from the 
sepulchre. Compare with this and the next 
clause Mark's language: "They fled from the 
sepulchre."— With fear and great joy. Fear 
at the sight, joy at the word. The experience 
was a commingled one ; the contradiction is one 
common in experience. The fear and trem- 
bling (Mark 16 : 8) was that not of terror so much 
as of awe and excitement, such as is often 
produced by unexpected and astonishing news. 
It illustrates and is illustrated by Phil. 22 : 1. 



Oh. XXVIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



325 



with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disci- 
ples word. 

9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus 
met them, saying, All hail.s And they came and held 
him by the feet, and worshipped him. 

10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid : go tell 
my brethren, 11 that they go into Galilee, and there shall 
they see me. 

ii Now when they were going, behold some of the 
watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief 
priests all the things that were done. 

12 And when they were assembled with the elders, 



and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the 
soldiers, 

13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and 
stole ' him away while we slept. 

14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will 
persuade him, and secure you. 

15 So they took the money, and did as they were 
taught : and this saying is commonly reported among 
the Jews until this day. 

16 Then ' the eleven disciples went away into Gal- 
ilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed 
them. 



g John 20 : 19 h Heb. 2 : 11 .... i oh. 27 : 64 j ch. 26 : 82 . . . . k ch. 16 : 



—Dill run to bring his disciples word. 

This accords with Luke 24 : 9 ; comp. John 
20 : 18. Mark, on the contrary (i6 : is), says, 
"Neither said they anything to any man." 
Alford regards all attempts to reconcile this 
discrepancy as futile ; similarly, DeWette and 
Meyer. I should understand Mark to mean that 
they said nothing to any one on the way. So James 
Morison following Grotius. Apart from the 
other Evangelists it would be quite incredible 
to suppose they said nothing respecting this 
angelic appearance to their co-disciples ; and 
this notwithstanding the explicit direction to 
tell them. Observe in their haste here to tell 
the story of the resurrection, an illustration of 
the spirit which should always actuate the dis- 
ciples Of Christ (Epbes. 6 : 15). 

9, 10. As they went to tell his disciples. 

These words are wanting in the best manuscripts, 
and are omitted by Tischendorf, Lachmann, 
Tregelles, and Alford. There is, therefore, noth- 
ing to indicate that this interview took place at 
this time. It is not narrated by any other of the 
Evangelists, and their narratives indicate, if 
taken alone, that the women bore no other mes- 
sage to the disciples than that which they re- 
ceived from the angels. John (20 : n-is), whose 
account of the resurrection is the fullest, reports 
an appearance of our Lord to Mary Magdalene, 
one of these women ; it occurs, however, after 
she had brought the disciples word that the body 
had been removed, and after John and Peter had 
visited the tomb and found it empty. Here, too, 
the women are represented as clasping our Lord's 
feet; there Mary Magdalene is represented as 
forbidden to touch her Lord. It is not impossi- 
ble that Matthew here embodies, in a briefer and 
more imperfect form, the facts which John has 
told more fully and accurately.— Be not afraid. 
See above, note onver.5. — Go tell my brethren. 
So called for the first time by Christ ; because 
he is the first-fruits of the dead (Heb, 2 : 9-11). He 
previously had declared that whosoever does the 
will of God the same is my brother, but he never 
before employed the term in direct address to 
his disciples. 

11-15. This report is peculiar to Matthew, 



whose brief account of the resurrection was, 
perhaps, written chiefly for the purpose of coun- 
teracting the report of the Pharisees. — When 
they were going. While the women were 
hastening to announce the Gospel of the resur- 
rection to the disciples, the soldiers were going 
to report it to the Pharisees ; the one to publish 
it for the world's redemption, the other to con- 
ceal and counteract it. Satan was as quick to 
silence the Gospel as the disciples to proclaim it. 
— When they were assembled with the 
elders. The language does not imply a formal 
meeting of the Sanhedrim, but rather a secret 
meeting of the special enemies of Christ. — If 
this be testified to before the governor. 
Not merely, as our English version would indi- 
cate, If he happens to hear about it, but, If 
you are officially accused before him. — Until 
this day. We learn from Justin Martyr that 
this report was current among the Jews when 
he wrote, i.e., in the second century. It has 
been supplanted by the modern Jewish legend, 
that some of the Jews, disguising themselves as 
disciples, and mourning with them, remained 
after they had departed, rifled the tomb of the 
body of Christ, subsequently exhibited it to the 
people, and then buried it in Golgotha, the 
ground of which they thoroughly plowed, that 
the corpse might never be discovered. The 
original legend is revived in a modified form by 
Renan, in " The Apostles.'''' He recognizes that 
the Jewish story is self-contradictory. "We can 
scarcely admit that those who so bravely be- 
lieved that Jesus had risen again, were the very 
ones who had carried off the body ; " but he sup- 
poses that, " It is possible that the body was taken 
away by some of the disciples, and by them car- 
ried into Galilee. The others, remaining at 
Jerusalem, would not have been cognizant of the 
fact." On the inherent unreasonableness of all 
such attempted explanations, see below, Note on 
the Resurrection of our Lord. 

16, 17. The eleven disciples went away 
into Galilee. The original does not indicate 
that they went at this time. On the contrary, it 
would appear from John 20 : 26, that they re- 
mained in Judea at least a week after the resur- 



326 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVIII. 



17 And when they saw k him, they worshipped him : 
but some doubted. 

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, 
All ' power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 

19 Go '» ye therefore, and teach " all nations, baptiz- 



ing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost ; 

20 Teaching" them to observe all things whatsoever 
I have commanded you : and, lo, I p am with you al- 
way, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 



lch. 11 : 27: Ps. 2:6; 89: 19; 110: 1-3; Isa. 9 : 6, 7 ; Dan. 7 : 14; Luke 1 : 32; John 17 : 
IPet. 3: 22: Rev. 11 : 15.... m Mark 16 : 15.... n Isa. 52 : 10; Rom. 10: 18... o Acts 2 : 



Rom. 14 : 9 ; Eph. 1 : 20, 21 ; Heb. 2:8; 
; 1 Cor. 11 : 2... p ch. 18 : 20; Rev. 1 : 18. 



rection. Of the appearances in Galilee we have 
three accounts — the brief one here, the fuller 
account in John, ch. 21, and the reference by 
Paul in 1 Cor. 15 : 6, 7, which is probably to an 
appearance in Galilee. He says, "He was seen of 
above live hundred at once;" and Galilee was 
the home of most of Christ's disciples. There 
is nothiDg in Mark or Luke to indicate any ap- 
pearance in Galilee. — Into a mountain where 
Jesus had appointed them. Probably, in 
some unreported conference or message. The 
site of this mountain is wholly unknown. — And 
seeing him they worshipped him. Comp. 
Rev. 5 : 0-14 ; 1 : 9-11 ; and observe that worship 
is refused by the angel in the book of Revelation 
(ch. 22 : 8, 9). — But some doubted. Not doubted 
whether they should worship him ; nor some of the 
eleven doubted whether he had risen. The lan- 
guage describes in general terms the state of 
skepticism in the early church, which could be 
overcome only by repeated appearances and in- 
vincible proofs. Those that saw worshipped, 
but some of the great body of disciples were 
doubtful. Such an one was Thomas until he 
had seen (John 20 : 24, 25). See Note on Resurrec- 
tion of our Lord, p. 330, etc. 

Ch. 28 : 18-20. CHRIST'S COMMISSION TO HIS CHURCH. 

—It COMES FROM AN ALMIGHTY KlNG AND REQUIRES 
AN AGGRESSIVE MINISTRY. — It DEFINES CHRISTIANITY 
AS A UNIVERSAL RELIGION ADAPTED TO ALL NATIONS, 
AND A CIVILIZING RELIGION, THE SECRET OF ALL TRUE 
NATIONAL LIFE.— IT DESCRIBES THE DUTY OF THE 
CHURCH, TO MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS ; AND ITS 
INSTRUMENTS, BAPTISM AND TEACHING. — It INTER- 
prets baptism as initiation into a new life in the 
Triune God ; and the theme, the authority and 
the object of christ's teaching : the theme is the 
Gospel ; the authority, the commands of Christ ; 
the object, practical observance of his words, 
—it discloses the secret of the power of the 
church ; a realizing sense of the perpetual 

PRESENCE OF ITS LORD. — It DEFINES THE PERIOD 
WHEN ITS WORK WILL CEASE, WHEN REDEMPTION IS 

CONSUMMATED. 

This commission is given in a different form in 
Mark (16 : 9-20), but the authority of the passage is 
doubtful. See note there. A different commis- 
sion is reported by John (20 : 21-23). Comp. also 
Luke 24 : 46^49. The passage here is one which 
sustains a doctrine of verbal inspiration, i. e., it 
indicates that not only the thoughts of the sacred 
writer were inspired, but, in at least some in- 
stances, even his choice of words ; for the full 



understanding of this commission can be obtained 
only by a careful study of it word by word. 
Unfortunately, our English version does not al- 
ways preserve the accurate signification of the 
words. In the notes here I simply endeavor to 
give the English reader the meaning of the origi- 
nal, as interpreted by parallel passages of Scrip- 
ture, without entering into the doctrinal discus- 
sions which have been waged concerning it. The 
time when this commission was given is uncer- 
tain. The place appears, from the connection 
here, to have been Galilee ; Mark, on the con- 
trary, connects it with the Ascension, which took 
place from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1 : 12). 

18. Spake unto them, i. e., to the eleven; 
for there is no evidence to connect it with the ap- 
pearance to the five hundred, reported only by 
Paul (1 Cor. 15 : 6, 7). Thus, on its face, this is 
a purely personal commission to those whom 
Christ had before selected and ordained. But 
that it extended beyond them is clear from 
verse 20, for they have not remained till the 
end of the world to claim the promise of 
that verse. There are two interpretations — 
one, that it embraces the Apostles and their 
successors in office, and hence is a commission 
and a promise confined to the clergy. But there 
is no hint here, nor anywhere else in our Lord's 
sayings, of any successors to the Apostles. The 
other interpretation is that it is given to the 
Apostles as the germ and representative of the 
universal church, and this view is sustained by 
the considerations: (1.) That the command is 
not more explicitly limited to the eleven than 
the commission to observe the Lord's Supper, 
which by universal consent extends to all the 
disciples. (2.) By the usage of the early church. 
With this commission fresh in their minds the 
Gospel was preached, not by a clerical order, 
but by all the disciples (Acts 8 : 14 ; 11 : 19). (3.) That 
the command itself, by its necessary implication, 
lays the duty of preaching on all disciples, since 
they are to be taught to do all things which Christ 
has commanded the Apostles, and this includes the 
command to preach. " Teaching them to observe 
all things whatsoever I have commanded you 
makes them into you, as soon as they are made dis- 
ciples."— (Alford.) (4.) This interpretation best 
accords with the spirit, if not with the letter of 
Christ's other instructions, which lay on all dis- 
ciples the duty of manifesting the Gospel to the 

WOrld (Matt. 6 : 13-16 J Mark 4 : 21 ; Lnke 10 : 1 ; comp. Rev. 22 : 17). 



Oh. XXVIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



327 



All power is given unto me in heaven 
and in earth. The English language contains 
no adequate equivalent for the word rendered 
power (IQovalu). It embraces the ideas of both 
power and authority — power coupled with right. 
It here indicates Christ as the true Lord and 
King both of nature and of life, human and an- 
gelic. For the significance of this declaration 
comp. Dan. 7 : 14 ; Rom. 14 : 9 ; Ephes. 1 : 20-23 ; 
Col. 2 : 10 ; Heb., chap. 1 ; 1 Pet. 3 : 22 ; Rev. 
5 : 12, 13. But observe that the language here 
(is given) implies that this power is derived from 
the Father, is not inherent in the Son. Phil. 
2 : 9 indicates that it was in part given to him 
after and in consequence of his voluntary humil- 
iation, and 1 Cor. 15 : 27, 28 that it is held in 
subjection to the Father. Observe, too, that the 
power given to Christ is alleged by him as a rea- 
son, not for subduing, but for teaching all na- 
tions. His power is exercised in patience, long- 
suffering, and love— a power whose highest 
exemplification is the cross, " to the Jews a 
stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness, 
but to them which are called the power of God 
and the wisdom of God." It is the authority 
and power of love (i Cor. i : 23, 24; comp. col. 1 : 11). 

19. Go ye therefore. Therefore is not in 
the best MSS. " It is probably a gloss, but an 
excellent one." — (Alford.) It expresses the real 
connection between the verses, though in the 
original that connection was probably implied, 
not expressed. It is because all power is given 
to Christ that his disciples are to go forth to 
fulfill this command, strong in the assurance of 
his presence to the end. Observe in the com- 
mand Go forth a clear designation of the duty of 
an aggressive ministry. The original (noQevofiui) 
signifies a going from place to place. It is best 
interpreted by the practice of the early disciples, 
who "went everywhere, preaching the word." 
It marks a contrast between the new religion 
and the Jewish, which was intolerant of all other 
religions, and made no effort at extension among 
the Gentiles ; and the Roman religion, which was 
tolerant of all other religions, because indiffer- 
ent, and therefore made no effort to supplant 
them. Whenever the church sits down content 
with past conquests, and becomes simply con- 
servative, employing all its energies to preserve 
and strengthen within its own communion what 
is already gained, it violates the spirit of this in- 
junction, which requires it to go out into the 
streets and lanes, and bring in the poor and the 
maimed and the halt and the blind (Lake 14 : 21). 

Disciple all nations. The rendering of 
our English version is unfortunate, since it em- 
ploys the same word here and in the next verse 
to translate two different Greek vowels. The 
one which I have substituted, following Drs. 
Conant, Crosby, and others, though perhaps in- 



elegant English, is a literal rendition of the ori- 
ginal. The command is not, Teach and baptize, 
with the added explanation in verse 20 respect- 
ing the things to be taught, but, Make disciples 
of all nations, with the added explanation how 
this is to be done, viz., by baptizing and teach- 
ing. Observe that the command to make disci- 
ples of all nations implies, (1) That Christianity is 
a universal religion, not merely one of the reli- 
gions of the world from which, with others, we, 
in this later day, are to select an eclectic and 
universal religion ; (2) that it is adapted to all 
nations and all classes (Rom. 1 : 16), a claim which 
history has abundantly justified, but which was 
urged by early opponents as a conclusive objec- 
tion to it ; (3) that not a natural development, 
but obedience to the principles inculcated by 
Jesus Christ, constitutes the secret of true civili- 
zation among all nations, and thus that Chris- 
tian missions are the mother of civilization ; (4) 
that from all nations the members of Christ's 
church triumphant are to be gathered to God by 
obedience to this commission (Rom. 10 : 11-13; Rev. 
7 : 9). This command removes the limitations put 
upon the apostles by their first commission (ch. 
10 : 5, note), and shows that it was there temporary 
only, and it accords with Christ's explicit decla- 
rations concerning his mission (Matt. 8 : 11 ; 13 : 38, 
note). It marks the beginning of the fulfillment 
of his prophecies during the last days of his min- 
istry in Jerusalem (Matt. 21 : 43 ; 22 : 8-10). Hence- 
forth the kingdom of God is to be taken from 
the Jews and given to a nation bringing forth 
the fruits thereof. That the disciples at first 
hesitated to receive uncircumcised Gentiles into 
the church, notwithstanding this commission 

(Acts 11 : 3; 15 : 5; Gal. 2 : 12), OUgllt not to Surprise 

any one who considers how strong were the 
Jewish prejudices against the Gentiles (Acts 22 : si, 
22), and how slow even the apostles were to ap- 
prehend the full import of Christ's words (Marl 

9:32; Luke 18: 34). 

Baptizing them into the name of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. 

Not, as in our English version, In the name (iv 
rtj urotiuTi), but into the name (eig to urofia). The 
significance of the phrase is best learned by re- 
ferring to other parallel passages, e. g., Matt. 
3 : 11, I baptize you in (Iv) water into (tig) 
repentance ; Acts 2 : 38, Be baptized upon 
(in\) the name of Jesus Christ into (sig) the 
remission of sins ; Romans 6 : 3, So many of 
us as were baptized into («<?) Christ Jesus 
were baptized into (tig) his death ; 1 Cor. 10 : 2, 
And were all baptized into (ilc) Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea. Comp. 1 Cor. 1 : 13 ; 
12 : 13. These are the principal passages which 
throw light on the use of the words here em- 
ployed, and they indicate that to baptize into 
signifies, in N. T. usage, the end and aim of bap- 



328 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVIII. 



tism. The disciples of John by baptism were 
brought into repentance, and later the disciples 
of Jesus into the remission of sins, and into a par- 
ticipation with the death of Christ, as explained 
in the succeeding verse (Rom. 6 : 4), and the Jews, 
by their passage of the Red Sea, entered into the 
Mosaic dispensation, i. e., into the national life 
and the covenant with God which Moses inau- 
gurated. Interpreting Scripture by Scripture, 
it would appear that Christ's command here is 
not, as Dr. Conant, Meyer, De Wette, and oth- 
ers render it, Baptize with reference to the name 
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that 
is, Baptize in water and with this formula ; but, 
Bring all nations into covenant and spiritual re- 
lations with the Triune God, as by baptism John 
brought his disciples into repentance, and by the 
passage of the Red Sea the Jews were brought 
into a new national life under Moses. In other 
words it appears to me that Christ does not here 
command water baptism of any description, except 
by implication. He commands, not the sign, but 
the thing signified. If we render baptize im- 
merse, then the meaning will be, Immerse the 
nations in the Triune God, so that in him they 
shall live and move and have their being ; or if 
we understand baptism to be simply a sign of 
purification and consecration, the meaning will 
be the same. The nations are to be purified from 
their old false faiths, and consecrated to God, 
the Father, Son, and Spirit. That the disciples 
understood that they were to use water baptism 
as a sign of this immersion in God, or this conse- 
cration to and covenant with Him, is indicated 
by their subsequent practice, which also, how- 
ever, indicates that they did not understand that 
Christ here prescribed a formula of water bap- 
tism, for they are not recorded ever to have used 
it. The ordinary apostolic form was, In the 
name of Jesus (Acts 2 : 88; 8 : 16 ; 10 : 48 ; 19 : 5 ; 22 : 10). 
Observe the significance of the phraseology here, 
in its bearing on the truth that the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost constitute one only true 
God. The language is not, In the names plural, 
but, In the name singular. Notice, too, that it 
is not by acceptance of God merely, that the 
nations are to be made disciples (deism is not 
Christianity), but by accepting God as revealed 
in the Father by creation and providence, in the 
Son by his earthly life, sufferings and death, 
and in tbe Holy Spirit in his constant spir- 
itual presence in the hearts of the children of 
God. 

On the meaning of the word baptize {^uTtrltm), 
it must suffice to say here, in addition to what I 

have already Said (Note on the Baptism of Jcbus by John, 

p. 35), that after a careful study I am not satisfied 
that in the N. T. it necessarily implies immersion, 
still less complete submersion (see Mark 7 : 4, note ; 
1 Cor. 10 : 2), and that in my judgment the Scripture 



form of baptism, if the Scripture fixes on any 
form, must be determined by other considera- 
tions than the meaning of this word. The best 
authorities for the student to consult for the 
Baptist view of this question are Baptism in its 
Modes and Subjects, by Alexander Carson, and 
The Meaning and Use of Baptism philologically 
and historically investigated, by Dr. T. J. Co- 
nant. The latter, after a careful and exhaustive 
list of passages in classical literature, the Scrip- 
ture, and the church Fathers in which the word 
occurs, embodies his conclusions as follows : 
li The ground-idea expressed by this word is, to 
put into or under water (or other penetrable sub- 
stance), so as entirely to immerse or submerge; 
this act is always expressed in the literal appli- 
cation of the word, and is the basis of its meta- 
phorical uses. This ground-idea is expressed in 
English, in the various connections where the 
word occurs, by the term (synonymous in 
this ground-element), to immerse, immerge, sub- 
merge, to dip, to plunge, to bathe, to whelm." 
For the opposite view the student may consult 
advantageously four volumes by Rev. J. W. 
Dale, entitled respectively, Classic Baptism, 
Judaic Baptism, Johannic Baptism, and Patristic 
Baptism. His conclusion he thus rather vehe- 
mently states : ' ' Dipping the body into water is 
not, nor (by reason of a double impossibility 
found in the meaning of the word, and in the 
divine requirement) can it be, Christian baptism. 
That Christian baptism is a water dipping is a 
novelty unheard of in the history of the church 
for fifteen hundred years. This idea is not 
merely an error as to the mode of using the 
water (which would, comparatively, be a trifle), 
but it is an error which sweeps away the sub- 
stance of the baptism without leaving a vestige 
behind. It is a sheer and absolute abandonment 
of the baptism of inspiration, which is a baptism 
into Christ— into the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and the substi- 
tution for it of a dipping into water, which has 
no more place in the Scriptures than the English 
W has a place in the alphabet of the Greek Tes- 
tament." On the meaning of the phrase, In the 
name of the Father, etc., see Mob. Lex., art. 
ovofia. "The name of God, of Christ (ro 01 o,«o 
tov 9cov, tov y.vniov rov /qkttov), is a paraphrase 
for God himself, Christ himself, in all their 
being, attributes, relations, manifestations." 
Similarly Dr. Schaff : " The name signifies the 
meaning and essence of the subject as revealed, 
the copy or expression of the Being. In this case 
the name implies all that belongs to the manifes- 
tation of the Triune God in the Gospel, his titles, 
attributes, and works of creation, redemption, 
and sanctifi cation." (Comp. Matt. 10 : 41,42; 12 : 21 1 

18: 5-20; 19 : 29, etc.) 

20. Teaching them. Contrast this com- 



Ch. XXVIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



329 



mand with that given to the twelve in ch. 10 : 7. 
Then they were simply to go as heralds to 
announce that the kingdom of God was drawing 
nigh (see note there) ; henceforth they are to be- 
come instructors in the whole system of truth 
taught by Jesus Christ. Observe, then, that the 
mission of the ministry is not merely to herald 
the Gospel, but to teach its principles as a sys- 
tem of truth ; that only he who is in some sense 
an instructive preacher fulfills this command ; 
that whenever the ministry thwart intellectual 
development they are not Christ's ministry ; 
and that impliedly the seal of Christ's condem- 
nation is set on all preaching which appeals 
merely to the imagination or the emotions, i. e., 
which is sensational rather than instructive. 
Alford lays stress on the fact that in this com- 
mission baptism precedes preaching : "It will be 
observed that in our Lord's last words, as in the 
church, the process of ordinary discipleship is 
from baptism to instruction, i. e., admission in 
infancy to the covenant and growing up into 
observing all things." But surely the doctrine 
of infant baptism cannot fairly be deduced 
from the fact that in this commission Christ 
places baptism before instruction. As little can 
we deduce the doctrine that baptism should be 
administered only on an intelligent profession of 
faith, from the fact that Christ puts the disci- 
pling of all nations before baptism. In fact, in 
the practice of the Apostles, partial instruction 
preceded baptism, but not complete instruction 
in all things commanded by Christ (see Acts 2 : 41 ; 
17 : 32, 33). It is, however, a fair deduction from 
the language here, that no one is prepared to 
receive instruction in the things which Christ 
has commanded, till he has been spiritually bap- 
tized, i. e., brought into covenant relations with, 
and personal allegiance to the Triune God. 
Submission to God precedes instruction in the 
mysteries of God's kingdom. Comp. John 3:3; 
1 Cor. 2 : 7, 8. — To observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded you. Observe, 
(1) 27ie theme of the Christian ministry, Whatsoever 
Christ has commanded. Their duty is simply 
to expound and apply Christ's commands ; their 
magazine is not the traditions or creeds of the 
church, but the New Testament ; for the Epistles 
are but the logical development and application 
of truths the germs of which are all to be found 
in the Gospels. This commission is inclusive ; 
nothing that Christ has commanded may be 
omitted from the instructions of the church (Acts 
20 : 27). It is exclusive ; it shuts out from the pulpit 
ministry all purely secular science and philosophy 

(l Cor. 1 : 17 J 2:4; Rev. 22 : 18, 19). The power Of the 

church is the greatest when its ministry is most 
simply and truly scriptural. Every revival of re- 
ligion has accompanied a restoration to the heart 
of the church of the partially forgotten word of 



God. (2.) The authority of the Christian ministry. 
It is based on the commands of Christ. The 
church is to teach what he has commanded. It 
is, therefore, to teach with authority, as he did 
(Matt. 7 : 29, note), but with his authority, not with 
its own ; the authority of the Scripture, not of 
ecclesiastical councils and decrees. (3.) The ob- 
ject of the Christian ministry. To bring men into 
subjection, not to the church, or its creed, 
or its ministry, but to Christ himself; "To ob- 
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded 
you." On the meaning of the word (r^w), 
rendered observe, see Matt. 19 : 17, note. The 
church is to teach men, not merely to do Christ's 
commandments, but to keep watch over them, as 
a guard over his prisoner, and this includes 
attentive study of the instructions of Christ, 
watching with prayer against temptation to in- 
sure obedience to the commands of Christ, 
and watching for the fulfillment of Christ's 
prophecies. Comp. Matt. 25 : 13 ; 26 : 41 ; John 
14 : 15, 21-24. 

And lo. Literally behold. The word is em- 
phatic, and imports the stress which Christ laid, 
and which the church should lay on the promise 
which follows. But it is also a command to the 
church to keep in her sight her spiritually -present 
Lord. For it is only as she beholds the presence of 
her Lord with her, watching her fidelity, knowing 
her transgressions, measuring her life, as well as 
ever proffering to her needed grace and strength, 
that she is or can be kept pure, and strong, and 
hopeful, and loving. He is ever in the midst of 
the seven candlesticks (Rev. i : 13), but whether to 
inspire or to condemn, depends on whether he is 
there beheldhy his church. His realized presence 
is the only explanation of the success of the church 
of the Apostolic age, the only ground on which 
it can base an expectation of success in the present 
or the future. — I am with you. Observe the 
significance of the present tense. To the disci- 
ples he appeared to be removed by his death. To 
their apprehension he replies, not I shall be, but, 
I am with you. His true presence with his 
church now begins. He is still the "lam" of 
his church (Exod. 3:14; John 8.58), a perpetually - 
present Saviour. Comp. with this promise, John 
14 : 20-23, and 20 : 22, 23. But observe that it is 
both a promise and a warning. He is present to 
rebuke and chasten, as well as to guide, and 
guard, and inspire (Rev. 3 : 19). For interpretation 
of this declaration, study the whole of the Epistles 
to the seven churches of Asia (Rev. chaps. 2 and 3). — 
All the days (nitoag tug ij/iiqag). Not merely 
aliuay. It is a daily presence which is promised, 
not a fitful coming and going, but an abiding 
(John 15 : 4) ; a presence, too, in all days, and never 
even in the darkest to be forgotten. — Unto the 
end of the world. Rather, Unto the consum- 
mation of the cycle, not merely till the physical 



330 



MATTHEW. 



[Ch. XXVIII. 



world comes to an end, but till the era and 
work of redemption is completed. The original 
(ovvzUtlu) signifies not merely the end, as of a 
period of time, but the completion, as of a specific 
work. Comp. Matt. 13 : 39, 40, 49. The Re- 
deemer will remain with his church (i Cor. 3 : 9) till 
the work of redemption is finished ; then, when 
it can say with its Lord, "It is finished" (John 
19 : 30), it will rise with him to be forever with the 



Lord (John n : 24; i Thess. 4 : n). Then he will not be 
with us — we shall be with him. 

It is not strange that some early copyist should 
have given fervent expression to the feeling with 
which the church received this command and 
promise of the Lord, in the added Amen, which 
is no part of the original text, but which should 
ever be the answer of church universal to the 
gracious words of her Master. 



NOTE ON THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST. 



1. Harmony of the Gospel Narratives. The ac- 
counts of the resurrection are contained in 
Matt., ch. 28 ; Mark, ch. 16 ; Luke, ch. 24 ; and 
John, chs. 20 and 21. Eor the authenticity of 
Mark 16 : 9-20 and John, ch. 41, see notes there. 
The discrepancies in these accounts constitute 



an argument of rationalistic writers for believing 
them to be mythical or legendary. The student 
will readily perceive the nature of these discrep- 
ancies in the Evangelical narratives by compar- 
ing the following summary of their accounts, 
arranged in parallel columns for that purpose : 



Matt., ch. 28. 

Toward dawn of the 
first day of the week Mary 
Magdalene and another 
Mary come to the sepul- 
chre. An earthquake has 
occurred, the stone has 
been rolled away, and the 
watchmen have swooned 
with terror. An angel 
announces to the women 
the resurrection of Jesus ; 
and they depart to tell the 
other disciples, meet Je- 
sus on the way, and wor- 
ship him. He bids them 
tell the disciples to go to 
Galilee, where they shall 
see him. Subsequently 
the eleven meet him there, 
and receive their commis- 
sion. Meanwhile the sol- 
diers, bribed by the Jews, 
report that the tomb was 
rifled by the disciples. 



Mark, ch. 16. 

At the rising of the sun 
on the first day of the 
week, the two Marys and 
Salome come to the sepul- 
chre to anoint the body 
of Jesus ; they find the 
stone rolled away, and a 
young man (angel ?) in the 
tomb. This young man 
announces the resurrec- 
tion of Jesus, and bids 
them tell the disciples to 
go into Galilee, where 
they shall see Jesus. They 
depart and say nothing to 
any man, because they 
are afraid. The same day 
Jesus himself appears to 
Mary Magdalene, who 
tells the mourning disci- 
ples ; but they believe 
not. He afterward ap- 
pears to two who are 
walking into the country 
(comp. Luke, ch. 24), and 
who report the appear- 
ance to the disciples, but 
are not believed. After- 
ward he appears to the 
eleven as they sit at meat. 
He gives them their com- 
mission and is received 
up into Heaven. 



Luke, ch. 24. 
Early in the morning of 
the first day of the week 
the women, including the 
two Marys, come to the 
sepulchre and find the 
stone rolled away. They 
enter and are perplexed 
to find the tomb vacant. 
Two men appear to them 
and announce the resur- 
rection. They return and 
report it to the rest, but 
are not believed. Peter, 
however, goes to the sep- 
ulchre, finds it vacant, 
and wonders at the fact. 
The same day Jesus ap- 
pears to two disciples dur- 
ing their walk to Emmaus, 
who return and report the 
appearance to the eleven. 
While they are together 
Christ appears and takes 
meat with them. He 
leads them out to Bethany 
and thence ascends into 
Heaven. 



John, che. 20, 21. 

While it is yet dark Mary 
Magdalene comes to the 
sepulchre, finds the stone 
removed, returns, reports 
to Peter and John, who 
come together to the sep- 
ulchre. Peter enters 
first, then John ; they find 
the sepulchre empty, and 
go away perplexed. Mary 
stands without the sepul- 
chre weeping, looks in, 
sees two angels, who 
speak to her. She answers 
them, hears a voice with- 
out, supposes the speaker 
to be the gardener, until,at 
the pronunciation of her 
name, she discerns the 
Lord. She reports the 
facts to the disciples. The 
same evening Christ ap- 
pears to them, Thomas 
being absent, and breathes 
on them, imparting the 
Holy Ghost. After eight 
days he appears again, 
and convinces Thomas of 
his resurrection, and sub- 
sequently appears to the 
disciples, in Galilee. 



Comparing these four accounts, the following 
facts are observable : (1.) No one Evangelist 
gives more than a partial account of the events 
which occurred between the resurrection and the 
ascension ; the discrepancies, so-called, are 
largely due to the fact that each narrative is 
partial and incomplete, and none narrate facts 
narrated by the others. (2.) We cannot with 
any certainty construct a perfect harmony 
out of these accounts, i. e., we cannot be sure 
of the exact order of the events various- 



ly narrated by the different Evangelists. (3.) 
Though there are discrepancies, such as we 
might expect in the narrative of such events, 
penned by truthful and independent writers, 
each narrating only what he saw, or what he 
learned from trustworthy and independent wit- 
nesses, there are no contradictions, i. e., no fact is 
stated by one writer which is denied by another, 
or is irreconcilable with the statement made by 
another. (4.) In respect to tne substantial facts, 
viz., the death, the burial, the resurrection, on 



Oh. XXVIH.] 



MATTHEW. 



331 



the morning of the third day, first discovered at 
or about daybreak, and followed by numerous 
appearances to different witnesses, and at differ- 
ent times, all the Evangelists agree. (5.) The 
principal discrepancies are the following : The 
time of the visit to the tomb by the women is de- 
scribed by Mark as sunrise, by John as "while it 
was yet dark " ; two angels are described as at the 
tomb by Luke and John, one by Matthew and 
Mark ; an appearance to all the women is de- 
scribed in Matthew, an appearance to Mary 
alone in Mark and John, and no answering ap- 
pearance in Luke. In Mark the women say 
nothing to any man, in the other three Evangel- 
ists they tell the disciples. These are, I be- 
lieve, all the discrepancies of any moment. 
They are none of them of a character to invali- 
date the truthfulness of the concurrent testimony 
to the essential facts. Most of them are easily 
explicable ; for explanations see notes on the 
various passages ; all, I believe, would be ex- 
plicable if we knew all the facts. (6. ) Finally, 
while a harmony of these accounts is possible, 
any harmony, constructed in our imperfect 
knowledge of the events, is necessarily hypotheti- 
cal. With this explanation I embody what ap- 
pears to me to be a probable order of the events, 
as recorded by the four Evangelists, supple- 
mented by Luke in Acts 1:1, 2, and Paul in 
1 Cor. 15 : 3-7. 

Several women — the exact number is not 
known — go together at early dawn, between day- 
break and sunrise, to the tomb, to anoint the 
body. They find the grave opened and the body 
gone. Mary, supposing that the tomb has been 
rifled by the enemies of the Lord, hastens in- 
stantly back to the city for help, tells Peter and 
John, who forthwith hasten to the sepulchre. 
She accompanies, or more probably follows them, 
unable to keep up. That they hastened is evi- 
dent from John 20 : 4. Meanwhile the angel in 
the tomb has announced the resurrection of the 
Lord to the other women, who have gone back 
into the city to tell the news to the disciples. 
Peter and John come, find the tomb empty, and 
depart perplexed. Mary, in greater grief than 
before, at the helplessness of their situation, 
their Lord's tomb robbed, and their Lord's body 
borne away to some dishonored grave, remains 
weeping, is accosted by some one whom she be- 
lieves to be the gardener, discovers in him her 
risen Lord, and hastens to Jerusalem to inform 
the disciples. This I believe to be the first ap- 
pearance of Jesus to any of the disciples, and 
probably the basis of the less full and accurate 
account of Matt. 28 : 9, 10. The same day Christ 
appears to the disciples at Emmaus (Luke) ; and 
on the evening of that day to the ten at meat ; 
and a week later again, when Thomas is present. 
The appearances in Galilee (John, ch. 21 ; Matt. 28 : 16, n) 



are later. The commission to the eleven is given 
perhaps still later, whether in Galilee or Judea 
is uncertain ; I incline to think in Judea, and 
that it is followed almost immediately by the as- 
cension. That this harmony is in all respects 
correct I do not assert ; it is only hypothetical, 
but there is nothing in any of the four narratives 
inconsistent with it. It is at all events clear that 
there is a substantial accord in the four accounts. 
They are not irreconcilable, and the discrepan- 
cies are in matters of minor and comparatively 
unimportant details. 

2. Authentication of the. Resurrection. Since the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ necessarily carries 
with it the supernatural origin and divine au- 
thority of Christianity, it is not strange that from 
the earliest ages it has been the chief evidence 
of Christianity in the hands of Christians, and 
the chief point of attack on the part of unbe- 
lievers. The following considerations have led 
the majority of impartial students of history to 
consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ as well 
authenticated as any fact in history. (1.) The 
early church universally believed in the resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ ; it formed the basis of 
the first apostolic preaching (Acts 2 : 24-32 ; 3 : 21 ; 
4 : 2, 10 ; 10 : 39-40 ; 13 : 30-37 ; 17 : 31, 32) ; and it was uni- 
versally accepted by Christians at the time when 
Paul wrote the first Epistle to the Corinthians, 
i. e., within about thirty years after its supposed 
occurrence. It is incredible that a myth should 
have grown up, without substantial foundation, 
in a quarter of a century, in spite of hostility of 
both Jew and Gentile, and during the lifetime of 
those who were competent to contradict and dis- 
pute the falsehood if it had been false. (2.) This 
belief is sustained by four narratives which (see 
above) substantially agree, yet, which are all un- 
mistakably original and independent accounts, 
neither produced by collusion, nor drawn from a 
common source. The accounts bear in many 
places the evident indication of being prepared 
by eye-witnesses ; and of being the natural and 
even child-like description of events which the 
narrators themselves could not comprehend. The 
very seeming contradictions afford incidental 
evidence of the belief of the narrators. "Noth- 
ing can exceed in artlessness and simplicity the 
four accounts of the first appearance of Jesus 
after his crucifixion. If these qualities are not 
discernible here, then we must despair of ever 
being able to discern their presence anywhere." 
— (Furness.) (3.) This universality of belief 
must, on any hypothesis, be accounted for. It 
cannot be accounted for by the ancient Jewish 
explanation, viz., that the body was stolen and 
the story of resurrection invented by the disci- 
ples (Matt. 28 : 13). This is not only negatived by 
the precautions which the priests took against 
fraud (Matt. 27 : 62-66), by the facts that the disciples 



332 



MATTHEW. 



[Oh. XXVIII. 



were not anticipating a resurrection (see below), 
and that such a deception could not possibly and 
did not, in fact, enure in any way to their advan- 
tage, but also by the abundant evidence of their 
honesty in their labors and self-sacrifice, and by the 
incredibility of the supposition that a number of 
men could have banded together to promulgate 
such a system of religion as that of Jesus Christ, 
embodying such exalted precepts and principles 
of truth, purity, and love, by means of a delib- 
erately-framed fraud. This hypothesis is now 
almost, if not quite, universally abandoned, even 
by infidel scholars. For example, "Only thus 
much need be acknowledged, that the disciples 
firmly believed that Jesus had arisen ; this is per- 
fectly sufficient to make their further progress 
and operations intelligible." — (Strauss.) "It is 
an indisputable fact that in the early morning of 
the first day of the week following the crucifix- 
ion, the grave of Jesus was found empty * * * 
It is a second fact that the disciples and other 
members of the Apostolic communion were con- 
vinced that Jesus was seen after his crucifixion." 
— (Schenkel.) The honesty of the Apostles is 
even admitted by the Jewish Rabbinical writings, 
which accounts for the disappearance of the body 
by saying that it was removed from the grave by 

the priests (see note on verses 11-15, above). Nor Can this 

universal belief be explained by the hypothesis 
that Christ did not really die, but swooned, and 
was subsequently recovered from his swoon. 
For his death is as well authenticated as any fact 
in history. It was made sure of by the enmity 
of the priests (Matt. 27 : 62, 63), by the spear- thrust 
of the soldiers (John 19 : 34, 35), by the questioning 
of Pilate (Mark 15 : 44), these concurrent facts being 
testified to by independent witnesses ; and the 
recovery of Jesus from a swoon could not have 
formed the basis of any belief in a resurrection, 
without deliberate fraud on the part of his 
followers, which, as we see, is not regarded as 
tenable even by infidels. Nor can this belief be 
accounted for by regarding it with Renan as the 
production of an enthusiastic imagination and 
ardent hope in the disciples, in other words as a 
spiritual fantasy. For they had no such im- 
agination and no such hope. The fact of the 
resurrection is attested, not by persons predis- 
posed to believe in it, but by skeptical critics 
hard to be convinced. They were utterly dis- 
heartened by his death and had as little expec- 
tation of his resurrection as they had before 
entertained of his crucifixion. The women who 
came to anoint the body were surprised and 
grief-stricken to find it gone ; they thought the 
tomb had been robbed. When they carried back 
the report of the resurrection to the other dis- 
ciples "their words seemed to them as idle 
words, and they believed them not." The two 
disciples who conversed with the unrecognized 



Christ on their walk to Emmaus, had given up 
their faith in the Messiahship, and were thunder- 
struck at the revelation of his presence. When 
he appeared to the ten, Thomas refused to ac- 
cept their testimony. So marked and stubborn 
was their incredulity, that Christ more than once 
upbraided them for their unbelief. The reader 
who is interested to see how little historical basis 
there is for the latest and perhaps most popular 
rationalistic theory of the resurrection, namely, 
that it was the honest figment of a diseased im- 
agination, the unconscious creation of those who 
"amuse themselves with what is impossible, 
and, rather than renounce all hope, do violence 
to every reality," may find it in an examination 
of the following among other passages, indicating 
how stolid, prosaic, despairing, unhopeful, and 
unimaginative were the witnesses who have tes- 
tified tO the resurrection (Mark 16 : 10-14 ; Luke 
24 : 11-20, 81, 25, 32, 37-39 ; John 20 : 9, 11-13, 24, 25). The 

facts, then, are indisputable, even admitted by 
rationalistic writers, — Schenkel, Renan, Strauss, 
and by Rabbinical writers (see Goldstien's Life 
of Jesus),— that the grave of Jesus was found 
empty early in the morning of the first day of the 
week following the crucifixion, that it was not 
opened by connivance of the disciples, that they 
believed that they saw their risen Lord, con- 
versed with him, touched him, ate with him, 
that this belief was shared by above five hun- 
dred persons who at different times had inter- 
course with him (1 cor. 15 : 3-s), that on this belief 
the whole structure of Christianity, as a" divine 
religion, was rested by the early preachers, at a 
time when it would have been easy to expose 
the error, if error there were, and was univer- 
sally believed in the church, within thirty years 
after its occurrence. (4.) Only the fact of the 
resurrection can account for the marvelous 
change in the spirit and character of the Apos- 
tles. While he lived they had no accurate con- 
ception of his mission, believed he was about to 
inaugurate a political Jewish kingdom, were 
eager for precedence in it, and this even up to the 
time of his Passion, looked to the last moment 
for a miraculous deliverance from the Roman 
soldiers, when this hope was crushed by Christ's 
surrender, forsook him and fled, and after his 
crucifixion abandoned all idea of his being the 
Messiah and returned to their old avocation of 

fishing (Matt. 16 : 22; 20 : 20-24 ; Luke 19 : 11 ; 22 : 24-30 ; Join 

21 : 3). But the resurrection completely trans- 
formed them ; inspired them with a new con- 
ception of Christ's kingdom as for all people, 
with a new courage to suffer for the sake of their 
risen Lord and his kingdom, and with a new 
purpose to preach Christ and him crucified 
everywhere as a spiritual redemption for sin 
(Acts 2 : 39; 5 : 4i; 10:43). Neither fraud nor fiction 
are competent to account for the moral contrast 



Ch. XXVIII.] 



MATTHEW. 



333 



between the Apostles of the four Gospels and 
those of the Book of Acts. (5. ) A singular and 
significant testimony to the truth of the resur- 
rection is afforded by the change in the Sabbath- 
day. Nothing is more difficult to alter than 
religious ceremonials. No religious ceremonial 
could be more difficult to alter than a day ob- 
served, if not from the creation of the world, 
certainly for 1500 years. It was changed, not by 
any express command, for there is none in the 
N. T., but by the almost universal consent of the 



church, which could not endure to observe as a 
day of joy and gladness that on which Christ lay 
in the tomb, nor forbear to mark as a weekly 
festival that on which he arose. This fact can 
be accounted for only by recognizing the. univer- 
sal and ancient character of the belief in the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ — a belief, for which, 
as we have seen, it is impossible to account on 
any hypothesis which denies the substantial 
truthfulness of the Evangelical accounts. 






ANCIENT PATHWAY FROM BETHANY TO JERUSALEM. (From a photograph.) 



The view is taken from near the foot of the Mount of Olives ; the garden of Gethsemane is in the foregronnd ; 
in the background, on the left, is the north corner of the east wall of Jerusalem. The path crosses the"cedron 
near the garden of Gethsemane. 



The Gospel 



ACCORDING TO 



MARK, 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK. 

INTRODUCTION. 



By whom written. The author of this Gos- 
pel has been universally believed to be Mark or 
Marcus, designated in Acts 12 : 12, 25 ; 15 : 37 as 
John Mark, and in chapter 13 : 5, 13, as John. For 
some evidences of authorship see Intro., pp. 
15-19. His mother's name was Mary (Acts 12 : 12) ; 
she was a sister of Barnabas (col. 4 : 10), and dwelt 
in Jerusalem (Acts 12 : 12). Mark was converted to 
Christianity through the instrumentality of Peter 
(1 Peter 5 : 13) ; became the minister, i. e., the attend- 
ant of Paul and Barnabas in their first missionary 
journey (Acts 12 : 25) ; and was the cause of the con- 
tention between those Apostles and their separa- 
tion on their second journey (Acts is ■. 39), after 
which Mark accompanied Barnabas (Acts 15 : 39). 
Subsequently the estrangement between Paul 
and Mark appears to have been removed ; so, at 
least, we may infer from Paul's cordial references 
to him in the Epistles— Col. 4 : 10 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 11 ; 
Phil. 24. The N. T. gives no further information 
respecting him, and subsequent tradition is un- 
trustworthy. It represents him as the first 
bishop of Alexandria and as a martyr there. He 
has been identified with the young man, whom 
he alone mentions, who barely escaped capture 
at the time of Christ's arrest ( Mark 14 : si, 52), with 
one of those who turned back from following the 
Lord at the hard saying in John, ch. 6 : 66, 
and with one of the seventy mentioned in Luke 
10 : 1 ; but these are mere hypotheses, unsup- 
ported by evidence. 

Sources of information. Mark was not one 
of the twelve ; and there is no reason to believe 
that he was an eye and ear witness of the events 
which he has recorded ; but an almost unani- 
mous testimony of the early fathers indicates 
Peter as the source of his information. The 
most important of these testimonies is that of 
Papias, who says: "He, the presbyter (John), 
said : Mark, being the interpreter of Peter, 
wrote exactly whatever he remembered ; but he 
did not write in order the things which were 
spoken or done by Christ. For he was neither a 
hearer nor a follower of the Lord, but, as I said, 
afterward followed Peter, who made his dis- 
courses to suit what was required, without the 
view of giving a connected digest of the dis- 
courses of our Lord. Mark, therefore, made no 
mistake when he wrote down circumstances as 
he recollected them. For he was very careful of 
one thing, to omit nothing of what he heard, and 
to say nothing false in what he related." Thus 
Papias writes of Mark. This testimony is con- 
firmed by other witnesses, the most important of 
which are the following. Irenams: "Matthew 
wrote a Gospel while Peter and Paul were 
preaching the Gospel at Rome and founding a 



church there. And after their decease, Mark, 
the disciple and interpreter of Peter, delivered 
to us in writing the things that had been 
preached by Peter." Clement of Alexandria: 
"The occasion of writing the Gospel accord- 
ing to Mark was this : Peter, having public- 
ly preached the word at Rome, and having 
spoken the Gospel by the Spirit, many present 
exhorted Mark to write the things which had 
been spoken, since he had long accompanied Pe- 
ter, and remembered what he had said ; and that 
when he had composed the Gospel, he delivered 
it to them who had asked it of him, which, when 
Peter knew, he neither forbade nor encouraged 
it." Tertullian: "Although that Gospel like- 
wise which Mark published may be said to be 
Peter's, whose interpreter Mark was." Origen, 
as given by Eusebius : " The second Gospel is 
that according to Mark, who wrote it as Peter 
directed him ; who also calls him his son." 

It is not at all certain, however, that these are 
independent testimonies, and how far they are to 
be accepted as true is a vexed question among 
Christian scholars. It has even been denied 
that the Gospel referred to by Papias is the 
present Gospel of Mark, which it is claimed does 
not correspond in character to his description. 
For a discussion of this question the student is 
referred to Alford's Greek Testament, Prolego- 
mena, Mark's Gospel, Sec. II; Smith's Bible Dic- 
tionary, arts. Mark and Mark, Gospel of; David- 
son's Intro, to the New Testament ; Westcott's 
Notes to the Study of the Gospels, etc. It must 
suffice here to say, (1) that there seems to me no 
reason whatever for doubting that Papias refers 
to our Gospel of Mark. I agree with Edward 
Cone Bissel (Historic Origin of the Gospels, p. 192) 
that "the description which he here gives of 
Mark's method well accords with the charac- 
teristics of the second Gospel, as being not a 
complete record of the life of our Lord, chrono- 
logically arranged, but a vivid and picturesque 
arrangement of leading facts only, having a defi- 
nite moral as well as historic end ; " (2) That, 
while it must ever remain uncertain how far the 
influence of Peter extended in the composition of 
this Gospel, its character seems to me to confirm 
this testimony, and to indicate that one of the 
Twelve directly participated in its composition. 
Remembering that the early teaching of the 
Apostles consisted largely of a narrative of the 
facts in the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection 
of our Lord (see Intro., pt. ii, § 2, p. 32), it is reasona- 
ble to suppose that Mark derived his information 
from these discourses of Peter, and perhaps also 
from Peter's conversation, but embodied them in 
his own language. In other words, he was a true 



338 



MAEK. 



[Oh. I. 



historian, not a mere amanuensis ; but as a his- 
torian derived most of his information from 
Peter. 

Characteristics. Mark's Gospel is occupied 
almost entirely with the ministry in Galilee and 
the events of the Passion week ; it is the shortest 
of the four Gospels, and contains almost no 
incident or teaching which is not contained in 
one of the other two Synoptists ; its report of the 
teaching of our Lord is much less full and sys- 
tematic than that of Matthew, but it is by far the 
most vivid and dramatic in its narratives, and their 
pictorial character indicate not only that they were 
derived from an eye and ear witness, but also from 
one who possessed the observation and the graphic 
artistic power of a natural orator, such as Peter em- 
phatically was. As the systematic but inartistic 
narrative of Matthew's Gospel harmonizes with 
the character of its reputed author — a tax-gath- 
erer, and the spiritual and even metaphysical 
character of John's Gospel with such indications 
as are afforded of his character by the few inci- 
dents in his life and by his other writings, so the 
graphic but external character of Mark's Gospel 
harmonizes with the ardent, impulsive, oratori- 
cal, but not deep or tender character of Peter, 
to whose inliuence its composition is tradition- 
ally imputed. "It is Mark who reveals to us 
the comprehensive gaze of Christ (3 : 5, 34 ; 5 : 32 ; 
10 : 23 ; ii : n) ; his loving embrace of the children 
brought to him (9:30; 10 : 16) ; his preceding his 
disciples while they follow in awe and amaze- 
ment (10 : 32) ; we see him taking his seat to ad- 
dress his disciples (9 : 35) ; and turning around in 
holy anger to Peter (8 : 33) ; we hear the sighs 
which burst from his bosom (7 : 34 ; 8:12); and 
listen to his very accents (5 : 41 ; 7 : 34 ; 14 : 36) ; at 
one time we have an event portrayed with a 
freshness and pictorial power which places the 
whole scene before us with its minute accesso- 
ries — the paralytic (2 : 1-12), the storm (4 : 36-41), the 
demoniac (5 : 1-20), Herod's feast (6 : 21-29), the 
feeding of the five thousand (6 : 35-45), the lunatic 
child (9:14-29), the young ruler (10:17-22), Bar- 
timeus (10 ■ 46-52), etc. ; at another, details are 



brought out by a single word (1 : 1 ; 1 : 10 ; 1 : a ■, 

4 : 11 ; 6 : 53 ; 7 : 21, 23 : 9 : 26 ; 10 : 22 ; 14 : 3 ; 14 : 67) Or by the 

substitution of a more precise and graphic word 

for One leSS distinctive (l :12; 2 : 12; 4:37; 5:29; 

c : 46 ; 7 : 9 ; 14 : 33) ; it is to Mark also that we are 
indebted for the record of minute particulars, 
of persons, places, times, and number, which 
stamp on his narratives an impress of authentici- 
ty." — Kilto's Cyclopaidia. Further illustrations 
of this character of Mark's Gospel will be found 
on almost every page of this Commentary, and 
generally referred to in the notes. The refer- 
ences to Peter in this Gospel throw little or no 
light on the question of his connection with it. 
See them collated in Smith's Bible Dictionary, 
art. Mark, Gospel of. 

Time and place of composition. This is 
uncertain. Internal evidence indicates that it was 
written before the destruction of Jerusalem. 
Otherwise the omission of all reference to so sig- 
nal a fulfilment of our Lord's prophecies would 
be inexplicable. According to Irenaeus it was 
composed after the death of Peter and Paul, 
which would place it as late as a. d. 63. The 
place also is unknown. The traditions are con- 
flicting and untrustworthy. 

Object and language. As it is clear from 
internal indications that Matthew's Gospel was 
written for Hebrew readers, so it is evident that 
Mark's Gospel was written for Gentile readers. 
He omits the genealogical registers given by 
Matthew and Luke ; he rarely cites from the 
O. T., except in reporting discourses of our 
Lord; he interprets Hebrew or Aramaic ex- 
pressions (3 : 17 ; 5 : 40 ; 7 : 11 ; 10 : 46 ; 14 : 36 ; 15 : 34) ; he 

explains Jewish names and customs (7:3,4; 
12: 42; is: e); he contains no references to the 
law of Moses ; even the word law (yofiog) does 
not occur ; and matter that might offend or be 
misapprehended by Gentile readers is omitted 
(comp. Matt. io : 5, 6 ivith Mart 6 : 7, 8). There is every in- 
dication, both external and internal, that this 
Gospel was written originally in the Greek lan- 
guage, and no reason to doubt this, which is the 
almost universal opinion of scholars. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 

MARK. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the a 
Son of God ; 

2 As it is written in the prophets, b Behold, I send my 
messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy 
way before thee. 

3 The c voice of one crying in the wilderness, Pre- 
pare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 

4 John d did baptize in the wilderness, and preach 
the baptism of repentance for the remission e of sins. 

5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, 
and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in 
the river of Jordan, confessing r their sins. 

6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with 
a girdle of a skin about his loins ; and he did eat lo- 
custs e and wild honey ; 

7 And preached, saying, There 11 cometh one mighti- 
er than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not 
worthy to stoop down and unloose. 

8 I indeed have baptized you with water: but he 
shall baptize ' you with, the Holy Ghost. 

9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came 



from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized ' of John 
in Jordan. 

io And straightway coming up out of the water, he 
saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit," like a dove, 
descending upon him : 

ii And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou 
art my beloved Son, 1 in whom I am well pleased. 

12 And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the 
wilderness. 

13 And 1 " he was there in the wilderness forty days, 
tempted of Satan ; and was with the wild beasts ; and 
the angels ministered unto him. 

14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus" 
came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the king- 
dom of God, 

15 And saying. The timeP is fulfilled, and the king- 
dom of God is at hand: repent «■ ye, and believe' the 
gospel. 

16 Now 1 as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw 
Simon, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the 
sea : for they were fishers. 

17 And Jesus said unto them. Come ye after me, 
and 1 will make you to become fishers of men. 



tHeb. 1:1.2 b Mai. 3:1 c Isa. 40 : 3 d Matt. 3 :.l ; Luke 3:3; John 3 : 23.... e Acts 92 : 16 f Lev. 26 : 40-42 ; Ps. 32 :5; 

Prov. 28: 13; 1 John 1 :8-10....g Lev. 11 : 22.... h Matt. 3 : 11 ; John 1 : 27 ; Acts 13: 25.... i Joel 2 : 28 ; Acts 1:5; 2:4; 10:45; 

11 : 15, 16; 1 Cor. 12, 13 j Matt. 3 : 13; Luke 3 : 21 k Isa. 42 : 1 ; John 1 : 32.... I Ps. 2 : 7 m Matt. 4 : 1, etc.; Luke 4: 1, etc 

it Matt. 4: 23 o Luke 8:1 p Dan. 2 : 44 ; 9 : 25 ; Gal. 4:4; Ephes. 1 : 10 q Acts 2 : 38 r Rom. 16 : 26 s Matt. 4: 18, etc.; 

Luke 5 : 4, etc. 



Ch. 1 : 1-8. John the Baptist and his 
Preaching. Matt. 3 : 1-12, notes ; Luke 3 : 1-18, 
notes. See for a different phase of his ministry, 
John 1 : 19-33, notes ; for his character, Matt. 
11 : 3-19, notes ; for a brief account of his life, 
Matt. 14 : 1-12, notes, and Mark 6 : 17-30, notes. 
1. This is a general introduction to the Gospel. 
Matthew and Luke alone give any account of the 
birth and childhood of Christ. Mark and John 
begin with his baptism, which precedes and inau- 
gurates his public ministry. Tischendorf omits 
from this verse the words, "the Son of God." 
Alford retains them. Observe that the preach- 
ing of John the Baptist, the forerunner, is ac- 
counted the beginning of the glad tidings of 
Jesus the Messiah. 

2, 3. The prophets. The better reading is 
Isaiah the prophet. There are, however, two 
references, the first to Mai. 3 : 1, the second to 
Isaiah 40 : 3. "As Matthew, in chap. 21 : 4, 5, 
quotes from Zaehariah under the title of one 
prophet, and adds something from Isaiah 62 : 11 ; 
and as Paul also in Rom. 9 : 26, 27, mentions 
Isaiah by name, and has added something from 
Hosea 1 : 10, so Mark here refers to two proph- 
ets, and yet names only one, the prophet Isaiah." 
—(Bengel.) As to the meaning of the two refer- 
ences, see notes respectively on Matt. 11 : 10 and 
3 : 3. — The voice of one crying in the wil- 
derness. "A preacher should, if possible, be 
nothing but a voice, which should be always 
heard and never seen." — {Quemel.) 

4. In the wilderness. Of Judea (Matt. 3 : i). 
— For the remission of sins. Not merely 



for the pardon of sin, but for the putting away 
of and cleansing from sin. See Matt. 26 : 28, note, 
and references there quoted. This John declared 
was necessary for all the children of Israel, not 
merely for the heathen (Luke 3 : s), and was to be 
obtained not by sacrifices, but by abandonment 

Of Sin (Matt. 3 : 2, note). 

8. With the Holy Ghost. Matthew and 
Luke add, "and with fire." See Matt. 3 : 11, 
note. 

Ch. 1 : 9-11. The Baptism of Jesus. Matt. 

3 : 13-17 ; Luke 3 : 21, 22 ; John 1 : 32-34. See 
notes on Matthew. 

Ch. 1 : 12, 13. The Temptation. Matt. 

4 : 1-11 ; Luke 4 : 1-13. It is not mentioned by 
John. Mark's account is briefest, but the state- 
ment that Christ "was with the wild beasts" 
is peculiar to him. The ministry of the angels 
(ver. 13) was at the close of the temptation. (Matt. 
4 : ii.) See notes on Matthew. 

Ch. 1 : 14-20. Beginning of Galilean 
ministry. Between the baptism and the com- 
mencement of Christ's public ministry in Galilee 
occurred the events narrated in John, chaps. 2, 3 
and 4. To this ministry belongs the Sermon and 
consequent mob in Nazareth (Luke 4 : 16-31), which 
preceded the call of the four disciples here 
narrated. For notes on this ministry, see Matt. 
4 : 12-25 ; for notes on the call of the four Apos- 
tles, Luke 5 : 1-11. 

15. And believe in the Gospel. Peculiar 
to Mark. John had already preached faith as well 
as repentance (John 1 : 29, 36), though perhaps only 
privately to his own disciples. Christ did not as 



340 



MARK. 



[Oh. I. 



18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and fol- 
lowed him. 

19 And when he had gone a little farther thence, he 
saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, 
who also were in the ship mending their nets. 

20 And straightway he called them : and they left 
their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired ser- 
vants, and went after him. 

21 And they went into Capernaum : and straightway 
on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, 
and taught. 



22 And ' they were astonished at his doctrine : for he 
taught them as one that had authority, and not as the 
scribes. 

23 And u there was in their synagogue a man with 
an unclean spirit ; and he cried out, 

24 Saying, Let us alone ; what have we to do with 
thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ? art thou come to de- 
stroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One 
of God. 

25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, 
and come out of him. 



t Matt. 7 : 28 u Luke 4 : 33, etc. 



yet preach faith in himself as the Messiah, but 
only faith in the glad tidings that the time was 
fulfilled and the kingdom of God (Matt. 3 : 2, note) 
was at hand. 

Ch. 1 : 21-38. THE MINISTRY OF A DAY— Chkist a 
Saviour : He delivers the mind ; he heals the 
body ; he saves the soul ; he carries the gospel 
both to the awakened and to the indifferent. — 
The busiest have time for prater. 

Verses 21-38 give the record of a single day in 
Christ's life. There is no reason to suppose it an 
exceptional day. The account of the healing of 
the demoniac (verses 21-28) is peculiar to Mark and 
Luke (chap. 4 : 31-37). For a discussion of the phe- 
nomenon of demoniac possession, see Matt. 8 : 
38-31, note, p. 123. The harmonists are not agreed 
as to the time and occasion of this and the other 
contemporaneous incidents. Alford puts them 
after the Sermon on the Mount, and the call and 
ordination of the twelve Apostles. Robinson, 
Ellicott, Andrews, and Townsend, with much 
better reason, place all the incidents in this chap- 
ter at the commencement of Christ's Galilean 
ministry, and prior to the ordination of the Twelve 
and the Sermon on the Mount. Christ had pre- 
viously preached the sermon at Nazareth, which 
led to the mob there and his final departure from 
that city to take up his home in Capernaum (Luke 

4: 16-31). 

21. Into Capernaum. For description of 
Capernaum see Matt. 4 : 13, note. It was situ- 
ated upon the Sea of Galilee. — Straightway. 
That is, probably, on the sabbath immediately fol- 
lowing the call of the four Apostles. He goes to 
give his disciples their first lessons in catching 
men (verse n), and to inspire them with faith in 
him. Observe the rapidity of Christ's movement. 
Apparently on his first sabbath in Capernaum he 
preaches the Gospel. Compare the example of 
Paul, who preached the first sabbath after his 
conversion (Acts 9: 20). Observe, too, that Christ 
preaches in the synagogues until he is driven out 
of them. Corruption in the church is not a suffi- 
cient reason for refusing to work in it. — The 
synagogue. For description of the Jewish 
synagogue, see Matt. 4 : 23, note. 

22. Doctrine. Rather teaching ; not so much 
the thing taught as the maDner and spirit of the 



teaching astonished the people. — As one hav- 
ing authority. Matt. 7 : 28, 29, note. — As the 
scribes. For description of Jewish scribes, see 
Matt. 5 : 20, note. 

23. A man in an unclean spirit. Luke's 
description is still more explicit: "Having the 
spirit of an unclean devil,' 1 '' rather demon. Ob- 
serve the peculiar phraseology here ; not with 
but in an unclean spirit. As Christ dwells in his 
children and they in him, so the evil spirit dwells 
in the children of the devil. That there is here 
described not a case of physical aDd mental dis- 
ease merely, but a real and actual possession of 
the soul by a fallen spirit, I think clear, both from 
the tenor of the narrative here, and from other 
parallel passages in the N. T. How could a 
lunatic know Christ to be the Holy One of God, 
when as yet he was unknown even to his own 
disciples ? How should he fear that Christ would 
destroy him, who came to heal the sufferer but 
destroy the devil ? How could lunacy be said to 
"come out of him" and to "cry with a loud 
voice?" See the whole question discussed on 
p. 123, Matt. 8 : 28-31, note. 

24. Let alone. Some manuscripts omit this 
exclamation here. But it is found in Luke, where 
its authenticity is unquestionable. It is in the 
original an exclamation rather than a request, 
and answers nearly to our away. — What have 
we to do with thee ? This is a common Jew- 
ish phrase, signifying a wish not to be troubled 
by the importunity or interference of another 
(Matt. 8 : 29, note). The customary demand of the 

devil is tO be "let alone" (l Kings 18:17; Actsl6:20; 

17:6). — Jesus the Nazarene.. The epithet 
Nazarene can hardly be regarded here as other 

than OpprobriOUS (Matt. 2 : 23; John 1 : 46). — Art 

thou come to destroy us ? Observe, (1) an 
unconscious and significant testimony to the true 
mission of Christ, which is to destroy the devil 
and his works (ijohn3:8j Rev. 20: 10). Comp. ex- 
pression of the devil in Matt. 8 : 29. (2.) That 
here there is no indication that Christ literally 
destroyed the demon ; what he destroyed was 
the demon's supremacy over the soul. (3.) That 
Christ had not directly threatened to disturb that 
supremacy ; but his mere presence is always a 
disturbance and a destruction of the devil. (4.) 



Ch. L] 



MARK. 



341 



26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and 
cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. 

27 And they were* all amazed, insomuch that they 
questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is 
this ? what new doctrine is this ? for with authority 
commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do 
obey him. 

28 And immediately his fame spread abroad through- 
out all the region round about Galilee. 

29 And v forthwith, when they were come out of the 
synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and 
Andrew, with James and John. 

30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever; and 
anon they tell him of her. 

31 And he came and took her by the haud, and 
lifted her up ; and immediately the fever left her, and 
she ministered unto them. 

32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought 
unto him all that were diseased, and them that were 
possessed with devils. 



33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 

34 And he healed many that were sick of divers dis- 
eases, and cast out many devils ; and suffered not the 
devils to speak, because they knew him. 

35 And in the morning, rising up a great while be- 
fore day, he went out, and departed into a solitary 
place, and there prayed. 

36 And Simon, and they that were with him, fol- 
lowed after him. 

37 And when they had found him, they said unto 
him, All men seek for thee. 

38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next 
towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore w 
came I forth. 

39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout 
all Galilee, and cast out devils. 

40 And x there came a leper to him. beseeching him, 
and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If 
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 



Matt. 8 : 14 : Luke 4 : i 



Isa. 61 : 1, 2 ; John 17 : t 



. x Matt. 8:2; Luke 5 : 12. 



That the demon speaks in the plural, Destroy 
us. "The demons make common cause." — 
(Bengel.) — I know thee who thou art, the 
Holy of God. Tbis demon had a better creed 
about Christ than any one in the synagogue, but 
no faith in him (James 2 : 19). The Holy, not a holy. 
This word (0 I'cyiogS) is employed, as here, as a 
noun, to designate the Temple (Heb. 9 : 1, etc.). In 
a sense every Christian is a temple of God ; but 
Christ was the temple of God, in whom dwelt the 
fullness of the Godhead bodily (col. 2 : 9). It was 
the demon's sense of the God in Christ that 
extorted from him this cry. 

25. Hold thy peace. Christ seems to have 
habitually forbidden the demons to testify to him 

(verse 34 ; chap. 3:12; Luke 4 : 41 ; comp. Acts 16 : 16-18). Cal- 

vin suggests what may be the true explanation : 
" The devil dexterously acknowledges that Christ 
is the Holy One of God, in order to insinuate into 
the minds of men a suspicion that there was some 
secret understanding between him and Christ." 
And such appears to have been in part the effect. 
Comp. Mark 3 : 11 with Mark 3 : 22. " The 
devil and the world never praise but in order to 
seduce. It is a necessary part of prudence not 
to lay ourselves open to their commendations." 
— ( Quesnel. ) 

26. And when the unclean spirit had 
torn him. Rather, thrown him into convulsions. 
Comp. Mark 9 : 26. The man was not hurt 
(Luke 4 : 3s). The final outgoing of Satan or any 
of his emissaries is almost always accompanied 
with violence, which is the sign of his wrath 
(Rev. 12 : 12). But this violence can do no perma- 
nent harm.— Cried with a loud voice. This 
was not in defiance of Christ's command. For 
that forbade speech, and this was an inarticulate 
cry. — He came out of him. The whole lan- 
guage of this verse unmistakably shows that the 
Evangelist believed in a real possession of the 
soul by a personal evil spirit. 

27. They were all amazed. That is, all 



in the synagogue. What surprised them was, 
not merely the cure of the demoniac, but that 
the demon obeyed the simple voice of Christ. 
For the Lord used no charm, or exorcism. 

28. A fuller description of this widening fame 
of Christ is given by Matthew. See ch. 4 : 25, 
note. 

29-34. The Healing of Peter's Mother- 
in-law. See Matt. 8 : 14, 15, notes ; Luke 4 : 
38-40. The only differences in the accounts are 
verbal, Mark giving some graphic touches that are 
not found in the other Evangelists, such as verse 
29, " with James and John ; " verse 31, he " lifted 
her up;" verse 33, "all the city was gathered 
together at the door." The knowledge pos- 
sessed by the devils (verse 34) is interpreted by 
Luke, " They knew that he was Christ (Luke 4 : 41), 
i. e., the Messiah. The time for the full disclo- 
sure of that fact had not yet come. 

35-39. Christ's First Circuit in Gali- 
lee. Luke 4 : 42-44 ; Matt. 4 : 23, 25. 

35. Rising a great while hefore day. 
Matt. 8 : 17 intimates a reason why he could 
not sleep, viz., the burden of others' sorrows 
which he took upon himself. Observe, (1) the 
rest for the restless here indicated — prayer ; (2) 
the correction of a notion, popularly current in 
these days, that one can pray equally well at all 
times and in all places — Christ was accustomed 
to seek solitude for special occasions of prayer 

(Mark 6 : 46 ; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 22 : 4l). 

36. Simon. More generally known in the 
N. T. as Peter ; here, as throughout his career, 
a leader. It is characteristic of him that he has 
no fear of obtruding on the retirement of his 
Master. On his character, see p. 147, Note on 
the Twelve Apostles. 

38. Towns. Literally, village-cities, i. e., un- 
walled towns. Christ had no ambition to be a 
metropolitan preacher. Having awakened spir- 
itual desires in the people of Capernaum, he 
went elsewhere that he might awaken them in 



342 



MARK. 



[Ch. I. 



41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his 
hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will ; be 
thou clean. 

42 And as soon as he had spoken, immediately 1 the 
leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. 

43 And he straitly charged him, and forthwith sent 
him away ; 

44 And saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any 



man : but go thy way, shew thyself to the Driest, and 
offer for thy cleansing those things 2 which Moses com- 
manded, for a testimony" unto them. 

45 But he went out, and began to b publish it much, 
and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus 
could no more openly enter into the city, but was 
without in desert places ; and ° they came to him from 
every quarter. 



y Ps. 33 : 9 ; John 15 : 3 z Lev. 14 : 2-32 a Rom. 15 : 4 ; 1 Cor. 10 : 11. ... b Ps. 77 : 11, 12 ; Tit. 1 : 10 c ch. 2 : 13. 



others also. His example does not require, but it 
certainly justifies an itinerant ministry. — That I 
may preach. As yet the Apostles did not 
preach. Apparently four only had been called 
— James, John, Andrew, and Simon. — I came 
forth for this purpose. Not, I came forth 
from the city — for his purpose in that had been 
retirement and prayer ; but, I came forth from 
the Father (John 16 : is). His mission is here indi- 
cated, viz., to herald the glad tidings of divine 
love to all the world, a mission which he leaves 
to his followers to complete (John 17 : is). 

39. Throughout all Galilee. This de- 
scribes the first missionary circuit in Galilee, 
the same described in Matt. 4 : 23-25 (see notes 



there). Galilee, the northernmost province of 
Judea, was the scene of Christ's most abundant 
labors ; all the Apostles except Judas Iscariot 
were Galileans ; its inhabitants were simple- 
minded, and comparatively free from the control 
of the priestly class, which ruled in Judea, and 
from the bigotry and intolerance of the Judeans. 

(For history, see Matt. 2 : 22, note.) The immediate 

vicinity of the Sea of Galilee was the home of a 
crowded and busy population. This sea, or lake, 
is 13 miles long, 4 to 6 miles wide, 165 feet deep 
in the deepest part, and lies near 700 feet below 
the surface of the Mediterranean. Its climate is. 
and its productions were, those of an almost 
tropical nature. Grapes and figs ripened on its 



THE LAKE OF GENNESARET, SHOWING THE MIRACLES AND JOUKNETS OF OUR LORD IN ITS 

NEIGHBORHOOD. 



1. Peter's draught of fishes, Matt. 4 : 18-22 ; Mark 
1 : 16-20 ; Luke 5 : 1-11. 

2. Stilling the waves, Matt. 8 : 23-27 ; Mark 4 : 35-41 ; 
Luke 8 : 22-25. 

3. Miracles with the Gergesenes, Matt. 8 : 28-34; 
Mark 5 : 1-20 ; Luke 8 : 26-39. 

4. Return to Capernaum, Matt. 9:1; Mark 2 : 1. 

5. Journey to the Desert, Matt. 14 : 13 ; Mark 6 : 31 ; 
Luke 9 : 10. 

6. Feeding the 5,000, Matt. 14 : 14-21 ; Mark 6 : 32-41 ; 
Luke 9 : 11-17 ; John 6 : 1-15. 

7. Christ walks on the sea, Matt. 14 : 22-34 ; Mark 
6 : 45-56 ; John 6 : 16-21. 

8. Feeding the 4,000, Matt. 15 : 32-38 ; Mark 8 : 1-9. 

9. Return to the parts of Dalmanutha, Matt. 15 : 39 ; 
Mark 8 : 10. 

10. Crosses to the East side, Matt. 16 : 5 ; Mark 8 : 13. 

11. Reminds of the miraculous feeding, Matt. 16 : 6-10 ; 
Mark 8 : 14-21 

12. Heals the blind near Bethsaida, Mark 8 : 22-26. 




shores ten months in the year. Its waters 
abounded with fish, which supplied the country 
for miles around. On the south-western shore 
some warm mineral springs constituted a favorite 
resort of wealthy Romans; on the north and 
north-western shore five cities of considerable 
size were crowded along thirteen miles of coast- 



line, — Tiberias, Magdala or Dalmanutha (see Mark 
8 : 10, note), Chorazin, Capernaum, and Bethsaida. 
It was on the direct route between Damascus 
and the Mediterranean, and so was commer- 
cially important. It was thus an appropriate 
centre for Christ's Galilean ministry. It is now 
utterly desolate ; there is only one boat on the 



Ch. II.] 



MAEK. 



343 



CHAPTER II. 

AND again he entered into Capernaum after some 
days ; and it was noised that he was in the house. 
2 And straightway many were gathered together, 



insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, 
not so much as about the door: and he preached d the 
word unto them. 

3 And e they come unto him, bringing one sick of the 
palsy, which was borne of four. 



d Ps. 40 : 9 e Matt. 9:1, etc. ; Luke 5 : 18, etc. 



lake; and of the populous cities only the town of 
Tiberias and the -little village of Migdel (Mag- 
dala) are left. The accompanying map and table 
indicate the most important miracles and jour- 
neys of our Lord in the immediate vicinity of 
this lake itself, the heart and centre of the prov- 
ince. The greater part of Mark's Gospel is 
devoted to an account of this Galilean ministry, 
and to a graphic picture of the works rather 
than a systematic account of the teachings of 
our Lord. 
40=45. Healing of the Leper. Matt 8 : 



2-4; Luke 5 : 12-15. See notes on Matthew. 
The Leper's disobedience of Christ's command 
(verse 4s) is not stated by Matthew. 



Ch. 2 : 1-12. THE HEALING OF THE PARALYTIC— 
A parable or redemption: the helplessness and 
the hope op the sinner. — the nature and the 
efficacy of faith. — the power and the office of 
Christ : the remission of sins. — The test of all 
prlestly claims to like office and authority : 
are the priesthood able to remit the physical 
penalty of transgression? 




CHKIST HEALING THE PAKALl'TIC. 



This account is also given in Matthew 9 : 2-8, 
where nothing is said of letting the paralytic 
through the roof, and in Luke 5 : 17-2G, where 
is one important addition (ver. n). The healing 
probably took place at or about the time indi- 
cated here and in Luke, that is, in the early part 



of Christ's Galilean ministry, before the Sermon 
on the Mount, and before the call of Matthew, 
who was not, therefore, an eye-witness. The 
evidence of this is the order indicated in Mark 
and Luke. 
1. Capernaum. For description see Mat- 



344 



MARK. 



[Ch. II. 



4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for 
the press, they uncovered the roof where he was : and 
when they had broken it up, they let down the bed 
wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 



5 When Jesus saw their faith, 1 he said unto the sick 
of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 

6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, 
and reasoning in their hearts, 



f Acts 14 : 9 ; Epkes. 2 ; 8. 



thew 4 : 13, note. — It was noised that he 
was iu a house. Not necessarily his own 
house, though this may have been the case. 
His house, so far as be had one, was at Caper- 
naum (Matt. 4 : 13). 

2. Many were gathered together. Luke 
(5 : 17) says that among them were Pharisees and 
doctors of the law from Galilee, Judea, and Je- 
rusalem. He also intimates that other cures were 
performed at this time. See note there. — No 
room to receive them. One of the incidental 
evidences of Christ's popularity as a preacher 
at this stage of his work and in Galilee ; it 
was doubtless increased by curiosity to witness 
his miracles.— And he preached the word 
unto them. That is, the word of the Kingdom 
of God, that it was at hand, and that repentance 
and faith were the necessary preparations for it 
(Matt. 4 : 17 ; 13 : 19, 20). Observe how simple must 
have been the preaching of Christ, a house-to- 
house preaching ; and that there is no evidence 
that it was accompanied with any formal order 
of service or worship. But for public worship 
other and abundant provision was made by the 
Temple and the synagogues. 

3. One palsied. The original Greek word 
rendered here palnied signifies literally a loosen- 
ing or relaxing. It is defined by Celsus, a writer 
on medicine of about the time of Christ, as " a 
weakness of the nerves, either throughout the 
whole body or throughout the part diseased." — 
(Bob. Lex., art. naQuXvtixog.) Mr. Barnes (note on 
Matt. 4 : 24) classifies the infirmities included under 
the general name of palsy in the N. T. as fol- 
lows : 1st. The paralytic shock, affecting the 
whole body. 2d. The hemiplegy, affecting only 
one side of the body — the most frequent form of 
the disease. 3d. The paraplegy, affecting all 
the system below the neck. 4th. The catalepsy, 
caused by a contraction of the muscles in the 
whole or a part of the body, and very dangerous 
(Matt. 12: in-13). 5th. The cramp, in eastern coun- 
tries a fearful malady, and by no means infre- 
quent. It originates from chills in the night. 
The limbs, when seized by it, remain immovable, 
and the person afflicted with it resembles one un- 
dergoing a torture (Matt. 8:6; Luke 7 : 2). Death fol- 
lows from this disease in a few days. It is evident 
from the narrative that the patient in this case 
was rendered utterly helpless by his palsy. The 
disease in its worst forms is generally incurable. 

4. And not being able to come nigh 
unto him for the throng, they unroofed 



the roof where he was. To do this they 
went up on the roof (Luke 5 : 19), possibly by out- 
side stairs, which sometimes led up from the 
street to the house-top, perhaps by a ladder 
brought for that purpose, or perhaps by the 
stairs in a neighboring house. As they were in 
a city, the houses would adjoin, and it would be 
easy to pass from one roof to another. What is 
meant by uncovering the roof is not clear. Luke 
says they "let him down through the tiling." 
The roofs of Jewish houses were often made of 
tile, i. e., burnt clay. The larger Jewish houses 
were built around an open square. See picture 
in note on Matt. 26 : 69, etc. This was some- 
times protected from the rain and sun by an 
awning or broad roofing, sometimes by a more 
permanent roof supported on columns, with an 
aperture in the centre, and a corresponding 
basin below to receive the rain-water which 
flowed through the opening. Into this court 
opened the rooms of the house. It may be that 
Christ stood in one of these rooms, and the 
crowd in the court, and that the bearers of the 
palsied man removed enough of the tiling, either 
of the parapet of the roof proper, or of the roof 
over the court, possibly by widening the aper- 
ture in it, to let the sick man down ; or it may 
be that Christ was standing in the room within, 
and that the roof proper was broken up for the pur- 
pose of reaching him. See in Dr. Thomson's Land 
and Book, II : 7, a description of the modern roof 
in Palestine, and of the method of uncovering it, 
which he says he has often seen done. On either 
hypothesis, the significance of the fact remains, 
viz., that the sick man and his friends showed 
their faith by overcoming great obstacles in 
order to come to Christ for help. And this 
showed their confidence both in his willingness 
and his ability to help.— They let down the 
bed. Mark specifies the kind of bed by the 




THE GBABATUS. 

word he uses (zo«<?;?aroc), grabatus. This was a 
small, low couch or bed of the commonest de- 
scription, such as was used by poor people, hav- 
ing a mere network of cords stretched over the 
frame to support the mattress. The annexed 



Ch. II.] 



MARK. 



345 



7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who 
can forgive sins s but God only ? 

8 And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his 
spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said 
unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts ? 



9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy. 
Thy sins be forgiven thee ; or to say, Arise, and take 
up thy bed, and walk ? 

io But that ye may know that the Son of man hath 



Isa. 43 : 25 ; Dan. 9 : .9 



engraving is from Rich's Dictionary. The graba- 
ties could easily be carried about. 

5. And when Jesus saAV their faith. 

As exemplified by their actions'. And observe 
the illustration of true faith, not a strong con- 
viction of any doctrine about Christ, but a strong 
trust and confidence in Christ. The term "their 
faith " includes that of the sick man, for they 
would scarcely have carried him to Christ against 
his will. The conclusion of Quesnel, therefore, 
though just, is hardly justified by this incident : 
"God willingly accepts the desires, prayers, and 
good works which are offered for the conversion 
of sinners, who are not themselves sensible of 
their misery." Observe, too, that, apparently, 
Christ answers the prayer before it is presented. 
They say nothing ; he speaks to the silent prayer 
of their actions. Indeed, the four were proba- 
bly still on the roof, and could not, if they 
would, well present a petition. The man's help- 
lessness is his prayer. — He said unto the sick 
of the palsy. To Mark's report Matthew adds 
the words Be of good cheer ; the word here and 
there rendered Son (tiy.vov) is a term of endear- 
ing address nearly equivalent to "my child;" 
and the verb, rendered in the English in the im- 
perative, Thy sins be forgiven thee, is in the per- 
fect tense, and signifies a forgiveness already 
perfected. The spirit of Christ's address may, 
therefore, be thus rendered : Be of good cheer, my 
child, thy sins have been forgiven thee. There was, 
on the part of the sick man, no request for for- 
giveness, but the Jews regarded disease as a 
punishment for sin (John 9 : 2), and while specific 
disease is not always a punishment for specific 
transgression, yet there is a deeper sense in 
which all sickness and death is the fruit of sin, a 
fact which Christ here and elsewhere recognizes 
(John 5 : 14). Calvin's comment, therefore, is legiti- 
mate : "The only way of obtaining deliverance 
from all evil is to have God reconciled to us." 

6, 7. Certain of the scribes. Among 
them were those who had come up from Judea 
and Jerusalem (Lui™ 5 : n), where Christ never had 
the popularity he possessed in Galilee. — Rea- 
soning in their hearts. Matthew says within 
themselves. — Why doth this man thus speak? 
He blasphemes. This is the better reading ; 
it is adopted by both Alford and Tischendorf. 
By blaspheme the scribes do not mean, speaks 
evil of God, nor, takes God's name in vain, but, 
arrogates to himself the function and office of 



God. On the nature of blasphemy under the 
Jewish law see Note on Blasphemy against the 
Holy Ghost, p. 168 (/), and Matt, 26 : 57-68, Prel. 
Note. — Who can forgive sins except one — 
God ? Christ had not as yet assumed to forgive 
sins ; he had simply declared that the man's sins 
were forgiven. " Christ says nothing more than 
the prophets frequently say when they announce 
the grace of God." — {Calvin.) But he does now 
assume the power which they have denied him, 
and this without calling in question their princi- 
ple, that only God can forgive sins. 

8. And Jesus, immediately perceiving 
in his spirit that they so reasoned within 
themselves. Not, as in our English version, 
when he perceived, but instantly perceiving. The 
knowledge was supernatural, and was itself as 
great a testimony of his divine power as was the 

healing Which followed (Luke 7 : 39, 40 ; John 2 : 24, 2a). — 

Why reason ye these things in your hearts ? 

Matthew's report is, Wherefore think ye evil in 
your hearts ? Their reasonings therefore, it is evi- 
dent, did not spring from a sincere reverence for 
God, nor from an honest mental perplexity, but 
from jealousy and ill-will. It was the beginning 
of their opposition to Jesus as the Messiah, and 
it affords an illustration of the spirit of theologi- 
cal cavil in all ages. Chrysostom notes the gen- 
tleness of Christ's rebuke : "He said not, O ac- 
cursed and sorcerers, as ye are ; O ye envious 
and enemies of men's salvation, but, Wherefore 
think ye evil in your hearts ? " And he applies 
Christ's example to the modern teacher : " We 
must, you see, use gentleness to eradicate the 
disease ; since he who has become better through 
the fear of man, will quickly return to wicked- 
ness again." 

9. Whether is it easier to say, etc. 
"In our Lord's argument it must be carefully 
noted that he does not ask which is easiest, to 
forgive sins or to raise a sick man — for it could 
not be affirmed that that of forgiveness was 
easier than this of healing — but, which is easiest, 
to claim, this power or that, to say, Thy sins be 
forgiven thee, or, Arise and walk. The former 
is easiest ; and I will prove my right to say it by 
saying with effect, and with an outward conse- 
quent setting the seal to my truth, the harder 
word, Arise and walk. By saying that which is 
capable of being put to the proof I will indicate 
my right and power to do that which in its very 
nature is incapable of being proved." — {Trench.) 



346 



MAEK. 



[Oh. II. 



power h on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick 
of the palsy,) 

ii I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and 
! go thy way into thine house. 



12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and 
went forth before them all ; insomuch that they were 
all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We' never saw 
it on this fashion. . 



h Acts 15 : 3. ... i John 7 : 31 : 



Christ's argument here affords a fair test of all 
priestly claims to absolve from sin. If the priest 
has power to remit the eternal punishment of sin, 
he should be able certainly to remit the physical and 
temporal punishment of sin. This Christ did ; 
this the priest does not and cannot do. 

10. But that ye may know that the son 
of man, i. e., the Messiah. The term Son of 
man, when used in the Gospels, always refers to 
Christ, and generally, if not always, to him as 
the Messiah. It is his customary designation of 
himself. It is borrowed from Daniel (Dan. 7 : 13), 
where it is applied prophetically to the Messiah 
(see Matt. io : 23, note). Here, therefore, the claim is 
a purely personal one ; it does not indicate a 
power vested in man, or in the Apostles, or in a 
hierarchy. Yet there is a significance in the fact 
that both judgment (John 5:27) and forgiveness, 
that is, all dealing with sin, is attributed to him 
who, as the son of man, had full experience of 
temptation (Heb. 2:18;4:16, 10). — Hath authority 
on earth to forgive sins. Not merely, author- 
ity while on the earth to forgive sins, nor, au- 
thority to forgive sins committed on the earth, 
but, authority to exercise the function of for- 
giveness of sins upon the earth, i. e., that ye may 
know that this is the Messiah's earthly mission. 
" Christ's meaning was, that forgiveness of sins 
ought not to be sought at a distance ; for he ex- 
hibits it to men in his own person, and as it were 
in his hands." — (Calvin.) And here, as every- 
where in the N. T., forgiveness of sins is really 
the remission or putting away of sin as well as 
its punishment. Only he who has power to do 
the one has authority to do the other. 

11. Arise, take up thy bed. This he 
could easily do, the grabatus being light and 
easily carried. Observe, (1) that the evidence of 
the man's forgiveness did not follow immediately 
after the forgiveness was declared, nor the dec- 
laration of pardon immediately after forgiveness 
was secured. He was forgiven the moment that, 
with unfeigned penitence for his sins, he began 
to seek the Lord (isaiah 55 : 7) ; forgiveness was de- 
clared by Christ to be already perfected when he 
came into Christ's presence (ver. s, note) ; but the 
evidence of the forgiveness, in the healing, was not 
given until after the conflict with the Scribes. 
Pardon and the personal assurance of pardon are 
not always contemporaneous ; (2) there was no 
natural ability in the paralytic to obey the divine 
command ; his attempt to obey was an act of 
faith, and with the faith that attempted obedi- 



ence came the power to obey. The cure illus- 
trates the principle of divine grace, as set forth 
in Phil. 2 : 12. "Let us bring what is ours ; God 
will supply the rest." — (Chrysostom.) It is not 
faith to do nothing and leave all to God ; it is 
faith to do what we can and leave all to God. 

12. They were all amazed. Luke says, 
Filled with fear ; Matthew, according to the best 
readings, Were afraid. The immediate disclo- 
sure of God at first awakens in the soul the feel- 
ing Of fear (Matt. 17 : 7, note ; Luke 5 : 8).' — Alld glori- 
fied God. The Scribes charged Christ with 
blasphemy, i. e., derogating from the divine dig- 
nity by claiming a divine function. In fact, his 
act led the people to glorify God. And so, 
whenever Christ has been accepted as God man- 
ifest in the flesh, and as the One who forgives 
sins on earth, the worship and glory of God, the 
Father, has been increased, not lessened. — 
Saying, We never saw it thus. Luke says, 
We have seen strange things to-day ; Matthew con- 
tains an important addition, "The multitude 
glorified God, which had given such power unto 
men." To them Jesus was simply a man, a 
rabbi, perhaps au inspired prophet ; and his 
miraculous powers, like those possessed by cer- 
tain of the O. T. prophets, were accounted 
among God's gifts to the human race. 

Of this whole incident it may be remarked, (1) 
that it strikingly illustrates the difference in 
spiritual authority between Christ and his Apos- 
tles, none of whom assumed to forgive sins. 
Compare Acts 8 : 22-24, where Peter refers Simon 
to God for forgiveness ; (2) that it affords a test 
for all claims by a hierarchy to pardon sin, or 
even officially and authoritatively to promise 
absolution of sin ; if they possessed power to ab- 
solve from sin they should be able, as Christ, to 
relieve from the temporal consequences of sin ; 
(3) that it illustrates the gentleness of Christ in 
his language of reassurance to the sick, Be of 
good cheer my child, and in his language of rebuke 
to the Scribes, Why co ye think evil? (4) that it 
may be regarded as au enacted parable of sin and 
redemption. The paralytic typifies the sinner, 

by his Original helplessness (Isaiah 40 : 30 ; John 6 : 44 ; 

is : 5) ; faith, by his earnestness to come to Christ 
in spite of obstacle (Psalms 25 : 15 ; 86 . 2, 7) ; a common 
Christian experience, by the delay he suffers 
between his repentance and faith, and his cure 
(James 5:7, 8); and the power of divine grace, in 
the ability to obey Christ's command, received 
in the very attempt to comply with it (pmi. 4 : 13). 



Ch. Ill] 



MARK. 



347 



13 And he went forth again by the sea side ; and all 
the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. 

14 And J as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Al- 

Ehseus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto 
im, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. 

15 And k it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in 
his house, many publicans' and sinners sat also to- 
gether with Jesus and his disciples : for there were 
many, and they followed him. 

16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat 
with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disci- 
ples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publi- 
cans and sinners ? 

17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them. They 1 " 
that are whole have no need of the physician, but they 
that are sick : I came not to call the righteous, but 
sinners " to repentance. 

18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees 
used to fast : and they come and say unto him, Why 
do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but 
thy disciples fast not ? 

19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of 
the bridechamber fas'", while the bridegroom is with 
them? As long as they have the bridegroom with 
them, they cannot fast. 

20 But the days will come when the bridegroom 
shall be taken away from them, and then p shall they 
fast in those days. 

21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an 
old garment : else the new piece that tilled it up taketh 
away from the old, and the rent is made worse. 

22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles ; 
else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine 
is spilled, and the bottles will be marred : 1 but new 
wine must be put into new bottles. 



23 And ' it came to pass, that he went through the 
corn fields on the sabbath day ; and his disciples be- 
gan, as they went, to pluck s the ears of corn. 

24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do 
they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful ? 

25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what 
David did,' when he had need, and was an hungred, 
he, and they that were with him? 

26 How he went into the house of God in the days 
of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the show- 
bread," which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, 
and gave also to them which were with him ? 

27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made 
for man," and not w man for the sabbath : 

28 Therefore x the Son of man is Lord also of the 
sabbath. 

CHAPTER III. 

ND ? he entered again into the synagogue ; and 
there was a man there which had a withered hand. 

2 And they watched 2 him, whether he would heal 
him on the sabbath day ; that they might accuse him. 

3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered 
hand, Stand forth. 

4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on 
the sabbath days, or to do evil ? to save life," or to 
kill ? But they held their peace. 

5 And when he had looked round about on them 
with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their 
hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. 
And he stretched it out : and his hand was restored 
whole as the other. 

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway 
took counsel with the b Herodians against him, how 
they might destroy him. 



A 



j Mutt. 9:9; Luke 5 : 27 k Matt. 9 : 10, etc..-. 

Luke 19:10; 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Tim. 1:15 a Matt. » : 

- 6 : l,etc....sDeut. 23 : 25. ..t 1 Sam. SI : 6 u Exod. 29 

16.... x John 9 : 14; Ephes. 1 : 22 ; Rev. 1 : 10 y Matt. 12 : 9. et 



1 Luke 15 : 1-5... m Matt. 9 : 12, 13; Luke 5 : 31,32 n Isa. 1 : 18; 55 : 7 ; Matt. 18 : 11 

I p Acts 13 : 2... q Job 32 : 19; Ps. 119 : 80, 83 r Matt. IS : 1, etc. : Luke 

32, 33; Lev. 24: 9.... V Neh. 9 : 14 ; Isa. 58 : 13 ; Ezek. 20 : 12, 20.... w Col. 2 : 
; Luke 6 : 6, etc z Luke 14: 1.. .a Hosea 6:6 b Matt. 22 : 16. 



The student will observe that there is no verbal 
expression of either penitence or faith on the 
man's part, and no demand by Christ for such 
expression. However this may accord with our 
method of dealing with sinful and suffering souls, 
it accords with Christ's method, who customarily 
by his insight perceived and by his gracious help- 
fulness developed the first germs of repentance 
and faith, not always waiting till they had wak- 
ened even into consciousness (Luke 7: 47-50 ; 23:42, 

43; John 5: 8, 9, 14; 8 : ll). It is the disclosure Of 

divine forgiveness that leads to repentance (Rom. 

2:4). 

13-22. The call op Levi (Matthew) and 
Christ's consequent teaching. Matt. 9 : 9-17 ; 
Luke 5 : 27-39. See Notes on Matthew. The 
phrase here, In Ids house (verse 15) means the house 
of Levi or Matthew (Luke 5 : 29), not the house of 
Jesus, who had none (Matt. 8 : 20). 

23-28. Ch. 3 : 1-6. The Law of the 
Christian Sabbath Illustrated. Matt. 12 : 
1-8; Luke 6 : 1-11. See Notes on Matthew. 
I treat here only one or two points, peculiar to 
Mark. 

20. In the days of Abiathar the high- 
priest. The reference is to 1 Sam. 21 : 1-9. 
There, however, Ahimelech is represented as the 
high-priest, and elsewhere Abiathar is repre- 
sented as his son. The most probable explana- 
tion is that Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech 
and ministered with his father, and perhaps per- 



sonally gave the shew-bread to David, and being 
subsequently high-priest is here given his title, 
a title which did not, however, properly become 
his until a later period. 

27. Peculiar to Mark. It implies (1) the per- 
petuity of a sabbath rest ; it was made for man, 
not merely for the Jews, and the law requiring it 
is written in man's physical and spiritual nature ; 
(2) its universality ; it was made for man, not for 
any single class, for man-servant and maid-ser- 
vant, and the stranger within the gates (Exod. 
20: 10) ; (3) its object, for man — man's day, there- 
fore, as truly as the Lord's day ; hence, what- 
ever is for man's highest and truest welfare, 
whatever generally adopted, will tend to the phys- 
ical, intellectual and spiritual development of 
man, not of exceptional individuals, but of the com- 
munity or the race, is appropriate for the day 
which was made/or man, and whose observance 
is tested by its usefulness to man. 

Ch. 3 : 3. Stand forth. His object ap- 
parently, was to call attention to the cure and 
make it prominent in order to emphasize his 
teaching. 

4. Is it lawful * * .* to save life or to 
kill? "A terrible home-thrust. He was in- 
tending to do good, to relieve a disabled fellow- 
man — they were harboring murderous thoughts. 
They would fain destroy Jesus. ' Which of us,' 
he virtually asks, ' is breaking the sabbath, you 
or I ? ' " — (Furness.) 



348 



MAEK. 



[Oh. III. 



7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to 
the sea : and a great c multitude from Galilee followed 
him, and from Judsea, 

8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumsea, and from 
beyond Jordan ; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a 
great multitude, when they had heard what great 
things he did, came unto him. 

9 And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship 
should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they 
should throng him. 

io For he had healed many; d insomuch that they 
pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had 
plagues. 



ii And e unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell 
down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son 
of God. 

12 And he straitly charged them that they should not 
make him known.' 

13 Ande he goeth up into a mountain and calleth 
unto him whom he h would : and they came unto him. 

14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with 
him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 

15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast 
out devils : 

16 And Simon' he surnamed Peter; 



.d Matt. 12 : 15; 14 : 14.... e ch. 1 : 24 j Mutt. 14 : 33; Luke 4 : 41 ; James 2 : 19. 
h John 15 : 16 i Joan 1 : 42. 



.f ch. 1 :26, 34.... g Matt. 10:1.... 



5. With anger being grieved. Grief and 
indignation are not inconsistent emotions. Only 
that anger which grieves at sin is the Christian's 
anger. — The hardness of their hearts. 

Exemplified by their silence, as an evidence of 
their obdurate persistence in their murderous 
designs. 

6. Pharisees. Matt. 3 : 7, note. — Hero- 
dians. Matt. 32 : 10, note. 

7-12. Christ's period of popularity in 
Galilee. — Parallel to Mark's account here, is 
Matt. 12 : 15-21. See notes there, especially on 
verses 17-21, which are peculiar to Matthew. 
Mark's account of the multitude which fol- 
lowed Christ is more detailed. He also narrates 
the incident of the boat kept for Jesus' disci- 
ples (vcr. o). There appears to be no chrono- 
logical order observed by Mark in this chapter. 
The ordination of the twelve Apostles (verses 13-19) 
and the Sermon on the Mount, which Mark does 
not report, but which accompanied their ordina- 
tion, preceded the teaching of Christ on the Sab- 
bath question (ch. 2 : 23-28 ; 3 : 1-6) and the incidents 
narrated here. For other evidences of Christ's 
great popularity at this period of his ministry, 
consult Matt. 14 : 13 ; Mark 5 : 24 ; 6 : 33 ; Luke 
8:45; 12 : 1. 

7. 8. To the sea, i. e., the Sea or Lake of 
Galilee. See map and description, ch. 1 ; 39.— 
From Galilee. The northern province of Pal- 
estine. On its character and inhabitants, see ch. 
1 : 39 ; Matt. 2 : 22 ; 4 : 14-16, notes.— From Ju- 
dea. Compare Luke 5 : 17.— And from Idu- 
mea. A Greek word answering to the Hebrew 
Edom. It was the region inhabited by the de- 
scendants of Esau or Edom (Gen. 25 : 30), whence its 
name. Originally the Edomites occupied a tract 
of country extending from the Dead to the Red 
Sea, about fifteen or twenty miles broad and one 
hundred miles long ; but after the Babylonish 
captivity they were permitted to settle in South- 
ern Palestine, and subsequently, under the Macca- 
bees, were subdued and compelled to submit to 
the Jewish rites and Jewish government, and 
were practically incorporated in the Jewish na- 
tion. Herod the Great, the last king of the 



Jews, was an Idumean. — They about Tyre 

and Sidon. See note on Matt. 11 : 21. 

9. A small boat. Probably a row-boat, used 
for fishing, and perhaps also furnished with 
a sail. See Mark 4 : 36 for illustration. Christ's 
object was probably twofold, in part retirement, 
for by the boat he could easily escape to the 
eastern and comparatively solitary shores of the 
sea (Matt. 14 : 13), in part labor, for from the prow 
of the boat, he could preach to the people on the 
shore, without being hindered by the throng 
(Luke 5 : 3). We may fairly deduce Christ's fond- 
ness for both the water and the mountains, from 
this and analogous incidents in his ministry. 

10. Pressed upon him. Literally, threw 
themselves upon him. — As many as had 
plagues. Literally, scourges. Disease was re- 
garded by the Jews as a scourge from God. Not 
any particular kind of contagious disease is 
meant; all physical afflictions would be included 
under the general word here rendered plagues. 

11. 12. And unclean spirits, i. e., persons 
possessed with them. See Note on Demoniacal 
Possession, Matt. 8 : 28-34, p. 123. For the reason 
of Christ's command to silence, see notes on Matt. 
8:4; Mark 1 : 25. 

13-19. The Call and Ordination of the 
Twelve. — This occurred previous to the events 
recorded in the preceding part of this chapter. 
Immediately following this ordination Christ 
preached the Sermon on the Mount. Mat- 
thew gives the ordination of the twelve out of 
its order, in connection with their first commission 
to preach the Gospel (Matt, io : 1-4) ; Luke in its 
proper order (Luke 6 : 13-16). On the ordination of 
the twelve, see Matt. 10 : 1-4, and notes, and on 
their individual lives and characters, Note on 
the Twelve Apostles, Matt. chap. 10, p. 147. 

14, 15. Mark states more definitely than either 
of the other Evangelists the office of the Apos- 
tles. They were to be vMh Christ that they might 
bear personal witness to what they had them- 
selves seen ( John 15 : 27 ; Acts i : 21, 22), and Paul rests 
his claim to be an Apostle on his having been an 
eye-witness to Christ's resurrection (icor. 9:i; 
is : 8, 9) ; this was their preparation for their work. 



Oh. III.] 



MAKE. 



349 



17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the 
brother of James ; and he surnamed them Boanerges, 
which is, The sons of thunder : > 

18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and 
Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, 
and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, 

19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him : 
and they went into an house. 

20 And the multitude cometh together again, so k 
that they could not so much as eat bread. 

21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out 
to lay hold on him : for they said, He ' is beside himself. 

22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusa- 
lem said, He m hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of 
the devils casteth he out devils. 

23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them 
in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 

24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that 
kingdom cannot stand. 

25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house 
cannot stand. 

26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be di- 
vided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 



27 No n man can enter into a strong man's house, 
and spoil his goods, unless he will first bind the strong 
man • and then he will spoil his house. 

28 Verily I say unto you, All ° sins shall be forgiven 
unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith so- 
ever they shall blaspheme : 

29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy 
Ghost p hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of 
eternal damnation ; 

30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit. 

31 There 1 came then his brethren and his mother, 
and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. 

32 And the multitude sat about him ; and they said 
unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren with- 
out seek for thee. 

33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my 
mother, or my brethren ? 

34 And he looked round about on them which sat 
about him, and said, Behold my mother and my breth- 
ren ! 

35 For whosoever shall do r the will of God, the same 
is my brother, and my sister, and mother. 



i 


Isa 


58 


: 1; Je 


r. 23 : 29. . . 


.k eh. 6 : 


31. 


..1 


Hos 


ea9 : ' 


; Jolm 


10 


20.. 


m 


Matt 


9 : 34; 


10: 


25 


12: 24 


Luke 11 


15 


John 7 : 20 


8 


: 48, 55 






.n 


[sa. 49 


24, 


26; 61 


1 ; Mutt 


12 


29 


...0 


Halt. 


12: 31 


Luke 12 


10 


•■ P 


Heb. 10 


: 29 




q Matt. 


12 : 46-48 


Luke 8 


19-21.. 


. .r 


James 




1 : 


25; 


1 Johr 


2 : 


17. 











































They were to preach, literally to herald, i. e., to 
go before and proclaim the coming of the Mes- 
siah, in person to the Jewish nation, in spirit and 
in power to the whole world, and in his second 
advent to his church ; this was their work. And 
they were to have power to heal the sick and cast 
out devils, a power subsequently exercised by the 
Apostles ; this was the divine seal and evidence 
of their authority. In strictness of speech the 
Apostles can have no successors, for none after 
that generation can bear personal witness to 
Christ's life, death, and resurrection, and none 
can show the miraculous evidence they showed 
of their authority. But every true minister of 
the Gospel must be a successor to the Apostles, 
and read his commission in this verse. He must 
have Christ with him (Matt. 28 : 20), and testify out 
of his personal experience to the Christ he knows 

(Acts 26 : 16 ; 1 Cor. 2 : 12 ; 1 John 4 : 14, 16) ; must act as a 

herald of the Messiah and Saviour, preaching 
not himself but the Lord Jesus Christ ; and he 
must attest his divine authority by his power in 
and through Christ to fulfill Christ's mission of 
mercy. Luke 4 : 18, 19, with John 19 : 18. 

16-19. Simon he surnamed Peter, i. e., a 
rock. This he did previously (John i : 42), for 
Peter and Cephas are different words with the 
same meaning — the former Greek, the latter He- 
brew. The reason for this title Christ explains 
subsequently (Matt. 16 : is, note). — Boanerges. 
This word is composed of two Hebrew words 
signifying "sons of thunder." The reason of 
this appellation, which appears only here, is not 
given. It may signify the character and power 
of James and John as preachers, though their 
subsequent history does not justify this expla- 
nation. More probably it referred to their nat- 
ural fiery temperament, of which we see signs in 
Mark 9 : 38 and Luke 9 : 54. — Judas Iscariot. 



See Note on Character, etc., of Judas Iscariot, 
Matt. 27 : 1-10, p. 303, 304. 

19-35. AttemptedInterrtjption op Christ's 
Preaching bt both Friends and Foes. Comp. 
Matt. 12 : 22-50 and Luke 8 : 19-21 ; 11 : 14-26. See 
notes on Matthew for a consideration of the time, 
p. 166, 172 ; for discussion of Blasphemy against 
Holy Ghost, pp. 168, 169 ; for attempt by Christ's 
mother to interrupt his preaching, p. 172. 

19-21. And they went into a house. 
Not, as one might suppose from the English ver- 
sion here, immediately after the ordination by 
the twelve. The incidents and teachings re- 
corded here took place at a later period in 
Christ's ministry. See Matt. 12 : 22-37, Prel. 
Note, p. 166. — So that they could not so 
much as eat bread. That is, Christ and his 
apostles had no time or opportunity for their 
ordinary meals. — And when his kinsfolk 
heard of it. The original (ol huqu uvtov) is 
ambiguous ; it may mean either companions or 
kinsfolk. The latter meaning is given by both 
Robinson and Winer, and better suits the con- 
text. The interference here referred to is that 
attempted by Christ's mother and brethren (ver. 
31-35), the intervening verses being parenthetical. 
At the same time that the Pharisees were at- 
tempting to put a stop to Christ's ministry by 
their accusations, his mother and brethren, 
thinking that he was carried beyond the bounds 
of prudence by his religious enthusiasm, endeav- 
ored to get him out of the crowd and away from 
the emnity in which he had involved himself. 

23. In parables. That is, with illustrations 
or in figures. These are reported in verses 24, 
25, 27, and another one is added in Matt. 12 : 
43-45. 

29. Is subject to eternal sin. The re- 
ceived text has here eternal judgment (y.giaig), but 



350 



MARK. 



[Oh. IV. 



CHAPTER IV. 

AND s he began again to teach by the sea side : and 
there was gathered unto him a great multitude, 
so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea ; and 
the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 

2 And he taught them many things by parables,' and 
said unto them in his doctrine, 

3 Hearken ; u Behold, there went out a sower to sow : 

4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the 
way side, and the" fowls of the air came and devoured 
it up. 

5 And some fell on stony ™ ground, where it had not 
much earth ; and immediately it sprang up, because it 
had no depth of earth : 

6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched ; and * 
because it had no root, it withered away. 

7 And some fell among thorns ; J and the thorns grew 
up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 

8 And other fell on good z ground, and did yield 
fruit a that sprang up and increased ; and brought forth, 
some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 

9 And he said unto them. He that hath ears to hear, 
let him hear. 

io And b when he was alone, they that were about 
him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 

ii And he said unto them, Unto c you it is given to 
know the mystery of the kingdom of God ; but unto 
them that are without, 11 all these things are done in 
parables : 

12 That e seeing they may see, and not perceive ; and 
hearing they may hear, and not understand ; lest at 
any time they should be converted, and their sins 
should be forgiven them. 

13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this para- 
ble ? and how then will ye know all parables ? 

14 The sower r soweth the word. 



15 And these are they by the way side, where the 
word is sown ; but when they have heard, Satan com- 
eths immediately, and taketh away h the word that 
was sown in their hearts. 

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on 
stony ground ; who, when they have heard the word, 
immediately receive it with gladness ; 

17 And have no root ' in themselves, and so endure 
but J for a time : afterward, when affliction or persecu- 
tion ariseth for the word's sake, immediately 11 they are 
offended. 

18 And these are they which are sown among 
thorns ; such as hear the word, 

19 And the ' cares of this world, and the deceitful- 
ness m of riches, and the" lusts of other things entering 
in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitlul. 

20 And these are they which are sown on good 
ground: such as hear the word, and receive it, and 
bring forth fruity some thirtyfold, some sixty, and 
some an hundred. 

21 And he said unto them. Is a candle brought to be 
put under a bushel, or under a bed ? and not to be set 
on a candlestick ? 

22 Fori there is nothing hid, which shall not be 
manifested ; neither was any thing kept secret, but 
that it should come abroad. 

23 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. 

24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye 
hear: with "what measure ye mete, it shall be meas- 
ured to you ; and unto you that hear shall more be 
given. 

25 For he that hath, to him shall be given :'and he 
that hath not, from ' him shall be taken even that which 
he hath. 

26 And he said. So u is the kingdom of God, as if a 
man should cast seed into the ground, 



s Mutt. 13 : 1, etc. ; Luke 8 : 4, etc t ver. 34; Ps. 78 : 2 tivtt. 9, 23; eh. 7 : 16 v Gen. 15 : 11 w Ezek. 11 : 19 ; 36 : 26 x Ps 

1:4; James 1:11 v Jer. 4:3....z Hcb. 6 : 7, 8. . . .a Col. 1 : 6. . . .b Mutt. 13: 10, etc.... c Ephes. 1 : 9. . . .d Col. 4 : 5 ; 1 Tliess. 4 : 12 

1 Tim. 3 : 7....e Isa. 6 ; 9, 10 ; John 12 : 40 ; Acts 28 : 26, 27; Roin. 11 : 8 f Isa. 32 : 20 ; 1 Pet. 1 : 25 g 1 Pet. 6:8; Rev. 12 : 9... 

h Heb. 2: 1 i Job 19 : 28 j Job 27 : 10 k 2 Tim. 1 : 15.... 1 Luke 14: 18-20 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 9, 17 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 10 m Prow 23 : 5... 

n 1 John 2 : 16, 17.... o Isa. 5 : 2, 4 p Rom. 7:4; Col. 1 : 10; 2 Pet. 1:8 q Eccles. 12 : 14; Matt. 10 : 26; Luke 12: 2; 1 Cor. 4:6... 

r 1 Pet. 2 : 2. . . .s Matt. 7:2 t Luke 8 : 18 u Matt, 13 : 24. 



Alford and Tischendorf both have sin {uaunrrjua), 
and this is undoubtedly the correct reading. 
Interpreted by John 3 : 19 and Rev. 22 : 11, it 
explains the nature of the penal consequences of 
which Christ warns the Pharisees, viz., a charac- 
ter given over to hopeless and irredeemable sin. 

31-35. See notes on Matt. 12 : 46-50, for a 
consideration of the lessons of this incident. 

Ch. 4 : 1-25. Pakable op the Sower; its 
explanation ; other instkuctions. The par- 
able of the sower is found also in Matt. 13 : 1-23 
and Luke 8 : 4-15. Matthew gives much the 
fullest report of these parables by the sea. 
See notes there. The phrases in verse 7, It 
yielded no fruit, and in verse 8, That sprang up 
and increased, are peculiar to Mark. On the 
explanation by Christ of the reason he used par- 
ables (ver. 10-12), see Prel. Note to Matt., ch. 13, 
§ 3, p. 173. The language here, "That seeing they 
may see, and not perceive," etc., is from Isaiah 
6 : 9, 10, but the passage is suggested, not 
fully cited. The words of the prophet are : 
" Make the heart of this people fat, and make 
their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ; lest they 
see," etc., and this language, though in form a 
command, is in fact simply a prophecy, equiva- 
lent to, They will certainly make their own 
hearts fat, etc. See Henderson on the passage. 



Matthew, who repeats Christ's language more 
fully, gives by his citation both the true mean- 
ing of the prophecy and of our Lord's applica- 
tion of it. His meaning is not, These things are 
done in parables, lest they should be converted, 
but, Their eyes they have closed, etc., lest at any 
time they should be converted. That is, men 
wilfully close their hearts to the truth lest they 
should be led to repent- 
ance and reformation ; 
hence Christ speaks in 
parables, that he may gain 
entrance for the truth into 
hearts unwilling to re- 
ceive it. 

21-25. These verses 
appear in the same con- 
nection in Luke 8 : 
16-18, but in Matthew 
in various passages and 
in different connections. 
On verse 21 see Matt. 
5 : 15, note ; on verse 
22, Matt. 10 : 26, note ; 
on verse 23, Matt. 11 : 15, 
note; on verse 24, Matt. 7 : 2, note; on verse 25, 
Matt. 13 : 12, note. The accompanying illustra- 
tion shows the candle and candlestick of the 




Oh. IV.] 



MAEK. 



351 



27 And should sleep and rise, night and day, and the 
seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 

28 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself;" 
first™ the blade, then the ear; after that, the full corn 
in the ear. 



29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately 
he " putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. 

30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the king- 
dom of God ? or with what comparison shall we com- 
pare it ? 



v Gen. 1:11,12 w Eccles. 3:1,11 x Rev. 14 : 15. 



East; they are really a lamp and light-stand. The 
connection of these verses with the rest of the 
chapter is not very clear. I doubt whether they 
were spoken at this time ; rather surmise that 
they were incorporated here by Mark and Luke 
on account of their parabolic character. If 
they really belong in the discourse by the seaside, 
their object may be to indicate that, though now 
the mystery of the Kingdom of God was hid 
from the people, the Apostles were not to keep 
it to themselves, as the priests of heathenism 
the sacred mysteries of their religions, but were 
to measure it out to others. Observe the prac- 
tical teaching of verse 24 : the way out of skepti- 
cism is a ready and unprejudiced hearing of such 
truth as is made plain ; all is not disclosed at 
once. Observe the difference in phraseology 
here and in Luke 8 : 18. In Mark, Take heed 
what ye hear ; in Luke, How ye hear. Both ad- 
monitions are important, and both apply to 
reading as well as hearing. 

Ch. 4 : 26-29. PARABLE OF THE SEED GROWING SE- 
CRETLY.— Diligence IN SOWING, PATIENCE IN WAIT- 
ING, PROMPTNESS IN HARVESTING ARE THE CONDITIONS 
OE A SUCCESSFUL SPIRITUAL HUSBANDRY. 

This parable is peculiar to Mark, but belongs 
with the parable of which Matthew (ch. 13) has 
given the fullest report. On its relations to those 
parables, see Prel. Note, § 4, p. 174. It does not 
exactly correspond to either of the parables 
there, though analogous in part to those of the 
tares and the mustard seed. Its general lesson 
is enforced by parallel passages, e. g., Isaiah 55 : 
10, 11 ; James 5 : 7, 8 ; 1 Pet. 1 : 23-25. In the 
kingdom of grace as in nature, we are laborers 
together with God, the results of our work de- 
pend on him, and for the perfection of these re- 
sults he takes his own time (1 Cor. 3 : 6-9). Hence, 
(1) it is ours to sow the seed (the truth), his to 
give it growth ; (2) having sown, we are to wait 
for time and God to perfect it ; (3) this he does 
according to a definite order of development — 
first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in 
the ear; (4) not until there has been time for the 
development and perfection of the truth are we 
to expect to reap. The lesson is one of trust and 
hope ; first, for ourselves in our own personal 
experience ; second, for all ministers, Sabbath- 
school teachers and parents, in working for 
others. Gal. 5 : 22, 23, describes the fruits of the 
spirit which grow thus secretly and require time 
for development and perfection. Ephes. 4 : 15, 



and Col. 2 : 6, 7, show the source whence this 
growth is derived, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Phil. 2 : 12, and 2 Pet. 1 : 5, show that though 
the growth is the work of God, still diligence is 
required of the spiritual as of the natural hus- 
bandman. 

26. As if a man should cast seed into 
the ground. The man of the parable is not 
Christ ; for, (1) it cannot be said of him that " he 
knoweth not how " the seed springs and grows 
up ; nor does he leave the seed to itself, and 
"sleep and rise night and day," but, on the con- 
trary, is continually with his church, and by his 
presence and blessing germinates the truth (Matt. 
58 : 18-20) ; (2) the very point of the parable is to 
teach that we may throw off the care as to re- 
sults upon him, not that he throws it off and 
leaves it to itself. The point of the parable is the 
growth, and the sower must be regarded as inci- 
dental, either a mere necessary figure to give it 
life-likeness, or perhaps the human sower, the 
preacher, teacher, or friend. 

27. And should sleep and rise night 
and day. Sleeping by night, and rising by day 
to go about other work, leaving the seed to the 
influences of nature, i. e., to God. But this is no 
excuse for sleeping by day, i. «., for sloth and care- 
lessness. — And the seed should spring, i. e., 
germinate, and grow up, i. «., develop from 
the germ into the plant. Often the truth, drop- 
ped in the heart by a word in public teaching 
or private conversation, seems to be lost, but 
getting lodgment germinates in after months 
or years, seeming to lie meanwhile dead, yet 
never having lost its power. Often by our im- 
patience to force an immediate growth, or to 
examine for it, we frustrate our own work. — He 
knoweth not how. Compare John 3:8; and 
observe Christ's emphatic declaration that how 
the truth in the heart produces the results on 
character we cannot tell. And yet by far the 
fiercest theological discussions have been con- 
cerning this, the unknown in theology, not con- 
cerning the practical question, How shall we best 
inculcate the truth and develop its results ? But 
because we cannot force immediate results from 
the truth, it does not follow that we are not to 
watch for results, nor that we are not to foster 
and cultivate the seed. "We cannot do the 
saving; but we can do the destroying." — (Arnot.) 
And this either by our mismanagement or our 
neglect. Compare Matt. 13 : 22. 

28. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of 



352 



MAEK. 



[Ch. IV. 



31 It? is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it 
is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in 
the earth : 

32 But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh 
greater z than all herbs, and shooteth out great branch- 
es ; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the 
shadow of it. 

33 And with many such parables spake he the word 
unto them, as they were able to hear it. 



34 But without a parable spake he not unto them : 
and when they were alone, he expounded all things to 
his disciples. 

35 And the same day, when the even was come, he 
saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 

36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they 
took him even as he was in the ship : and there were 
also with him other little ships. 



y Matt. 13 : 31, 32 ; Luke 13 : 18, 19 z Prov. 4 : 18 ; Isa. 11:9; Dan. 2 : 44 ; Mai. 1 : 11 a Join IS : 12. 



herself. Literally, the spontaneous earth bring- 
eth forth fruit. But the earth is not to be likened 
to the heart and the conclusion drawn that the 
latter has a natural power to receive and ger- 
minate the truth. For ' ' by nature, " i.e., natural 
growth "we are the children of wrath " (Ephes. 
2:3). But, as in nature divine forces begin 
to operate straightway on the seed, so in grace, 
divine influences begin straightway to fructify 
the truth. It is ours to study seeds and soils, 
i. e., to adapt our teaching to the hearts of 
those before us, and leave the rest to God. — ■ 
First the blade, etc. There is not only a 
divine development but a definite order of devel- 
opment. Some growths are quicker than others, 
but in all there is growth. And we have no right 
to look for the end at the beginning, the ripened 
Christian experience in the young convert, the 
full corn in the first appearance of the blade. 
Observe, too, that we can know that there is a 
growth by its results, though we know not the 
how, and that each stage of the growth is more 
apparent than the preceding stage. The germ is 
unseen ; the! blade of corn is not easily distin- 
guished from that of an unfruitful grass ; the ear 
is more apparent ; there is no mistaking the full 
corn in the ear. " The growing is a secret thing ; 
but the grown ripened grain is visible." — (Arnot.) 

29. The harvest is come. Not here, as in 
Matt. 13 : 39, the end of the world ; for (1) " he " 
*. e., the sower, not Christ, puts in the sickle ; 
and (2) the language of the verse implies that the 
appearance of the fruit is the evidence that the 
harvest has come, and a warrant to the sower 
to reap (comp. John 4 : 35). I understand, then, that 
this verse teaches that whenever fruit is brought 
forth (literally, presents itself) then is the harvest- 
time, i. e., whenever the results of religious 
teaching show themselves in character and con- 
duct, then are the individuals to be gathered into 
the church, the granary. We are not to wait for a 
definite time as in nature, before we gather in, 
but "when the fruit presents itself immediately " 
we are to put in the sickle. Comp. John 4 : 35, 
30 ; Matt. 9 : 37, 38, and Psalm 126 : 6. 

30-34. Parable of the Mustard Seed. 
Comp. Matt. 13 : 31-35, and notes, and Luke 
13 : 18, 19. For illustration of Christ's expo- 
sition of parables, see Matt. 13 : 36^13, 49, 50 ; 
15 : 15-20. 



Ch. 4 ; 35-41. STILLING OF THE TEMPEST.— Christ 
the Lord over nature. " Faith is courageous ; 
incredulity is fearful." 

Compare Matt. 8 : 23-27, and Luke 8 : 22-25. 
The narrative is most graphic here. Matthew 
indicates for the incident a different point in 
Christ's ministry. But Mark alone gives a defi- 
nite note of time, and the best harmonists follow 
him in placing it immediately after the parables 
by the sea. 

35. On that same day. Immediately pre- 
ceding occurred the offer of certain persons to 
follow Christ, and Christ's rejoinder (Matt. 8 : 18-22; 
Luke 9 : 57-62, notes). — When the even was come. 
The Hebrews reckoned two evenings (Exoa. 12 : 6, 
marg. reading) ; the first, according to Pharisaic 
reckoning, began with the declining sun, hence 
the hour of evening sacrifice was 3 p.m.; the 
second, with the setting sun. A like distinction 
was made by the Greeks between the former and 
the latter evening. Here, probably, the early 
evening, i. e., late in the afternoon, is intended, 
for, notwithstanding the delay occasioned by the 
storm, Christ found the swineherds watching 
their swine on the other side of the sea ; proba- 
bly, therefore, it was then still daylight. — Let 
us pass over nnto the other side. That is 
of the Sea of Galilee. Probably (see Matt. 8 : is) his 
object was to escape from the multitude and ob- 
tain rest. How wearied he was with his labors 
is indicated by his sleeping through the storm. 

36. They took him even as he was. 
That is, without preparation. Under the mild 
skies of Palestine it was no hardship to sleep out 
of doors wrapped in the cloak answering to the 
modern burnoose (Matt. 5 : 40, note). — In the ship. 
Rather boat. In Mark 3 : 9 we are told that one 
had been provided for Christ and his disciples by 
Christ's direction, and it is there described 
more definitely as a small boat (n).ouiQiov). That 
it was propelled by oars is evident from John 
6 : 19. Josephus designates the fishermen's 
boats on the sea of Galilee as skiffs, a name de- 
scriptive of a vessel answering to our modern 
pinnace, or perhaps launch. Our illustration of 
the ancient skiff is from a Pompeian painting. 
Observe the form of the stern, which afforded a 
convenient rest for the head of the sleeper. 
Doubtless the skiff in which Christ and his dis- 
ciples embarked was larger than the one here 



Oh. IV.] 



MAEK. 



353 



37 And " there arose a great storm of wind, and the 
waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 

38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep 
on a pillow : and they awake him, and say unto him, 
Master,' carest thou not that we perish ? 

39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said 



unto the sea, Peace, be still. And d the wind ceased, 
and there was a great calm. 

40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful ? e 
how is it that ye have no faith ? 

41 And they feared f exceedingly, and said one to 
another, What manner of man is this, that even the 
wind and the sea s obey him ? 



b Matt. 8 ; 24 ; Luke 8 : 23. 



.c P3. 10 : 1 ; Isa. 40 : 27; Lam. 3 : 8....d Pa. 
f Jonah 1 : 10, 16 ...g Job 3 



: 9 ; Lam. 3 : 31, 32. . . .e Ps. 46 : 1, 2 ; Isa. 43 : 2. . . - 




ANCIENT SKIFF. 

represented ; but the general character was 
probably the same.— And there were also 
with him other boats. Probably containing 
some of his audience who embarked to follow 
him. Compare for a similar following of Christ, 
Mark 6 : 33. Perhaps in these boats were some 
of those who had just offered to join the band 

Of ApOStleS (Matt. 8 : 18-22). 

37. And there arose a great storm of 
wind. The Sea of Galilee lies six hundred feet 
below the level of the Mediterranean. The snowy- 
peaks of Lebanon are directly to the north. The 
heated tropical air of the valley is a constant in- 
vitation to the cold and heavy winds from the 
north, which sweep down with great fury and in 
sudden storms through the ravines of the hills, 
which converge to the head of the lake, and act 
like gigantic funnels. See Thomson's Land 
and Book, II : 33. Luke's language, " There came 
down a storm of wind, 1 '' exactly corresponds to 
the phenomena of these sudden storms as de- 
scribed by modern travellers. Matthew describes 
it as a "great tempest" or tornado (aaaung), 
literally a shaking or concussion. — And the 
waves beat upon the ship, i. c, beat over it. 
— So that it was now filling. Not full. In 
Matthew the rendering should be, was getting 
covered by the waves, and in Luke, was getting 
filled. The process of filling was going on. 
Luke adds that they were in jeopardy. 

38. And he was in the stern of the boat, 
asleep on a pillow. Rather a cushion ; one 
such as are used for passengers in our modern 
row-boats. Bengel's statement that a part of 
the boat is intended appears to be without any 
adequate authority. Trench contrasts the sleep 
of Jesus with that of Jonah (jonah i : 5). "We 
behold in him exactly the reverse of Jonah ; the 
fugitive prophet asleep in the midst of danger 
out of a dead conscience, the Saviour out of a pure 
conscience ; Jonah by his presence making the 



danger, Jesus yielding the pledge and the assur- 
ance of deliverance from the danger." — And 
they awake him and say unto him. It is 

curious and significant that while each of the 
three Evangelists reports the words with which 
Christ was awakened, they do not agree. Mat- 
thew's report is, Lord, save us, we perish ; Mark, 
Teacher, carest thou not that we perish ? Luke, 
Master, Master, we perish. The difference is not 
merely verbal ; there is also a difference of tone 
in the three appeals. The first is the language 
of appeal, the second that of reproach, the third 
that of importunity aroused by imminent dan- 
ger. It seems to me impossible to reconcile 
such variations with the doctrine of verbal inspi- 
ration. Bnt they are just what we might expect 
from honest and independent eye-witnesses. 
Probably all three feelings were commingled in 
the disciples, and perhaps all three had expres- 
sion. Is it asked, Which Evangelist gives the 
correct account ? The answer may be that each 
gives, in dramatic form, that phase of feeling 
which was most prominent to his own mind, but 
neither of them the exact words. 

39. And he arose. More literally, and 
being awakened. Note the sudden change from 
the deep sleep to the scene of confusion and 
terror. " It is such cases as these — cases of sud- 
den, unexpected terror, met without a moment 
of preparation — which test a man, what spirit he 
is of, which show not only his nerve, but the gran- 
deur and purity of his whole nature." — (Trench.) 
— And rebuked the wind and said unto the 
sea, Peace, be still. Literally, Be muzzled. 
I cannot see, with Trench, in this language " a 
tracing of all the discords and disharmonies in 
the outward world to their source in a person," 
viz., Satan ; rather a rebuke of that notion, and 
a distinct implication that the winds and waves 
are the servants of God, and do his bidding. 
Mark alone gives the words of command, Peace, 
be still. — And the wind ceased, and there 
was a great calm. The command was ad- 
dressed to both wind and wave, and both obeyed. 
The stopping of the wind might have been 
thought an accidental coincidence, for these sud- 
den storms cease as suddenly as they arise. But 
it always requires time for the sea to subside ; 
here the calm was instant. 

40. And he said unto them. There is an- 



354 



MAEK. 



[Oh. V. 



CHAPTER V. 

AND 11 they came over unto the other side of the 
sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 

2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediate- 
ly there met him out of the tombs a man with an un- 
clean spirit, 

3 Who had his dwelling 1 among the tombs: and no 
man could bind him, no, not with chains: 

4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters 
and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder 
by him, and the fetters broken in pieces : neither could 
any man tame him. 



5 And always, night and day, he was in the moun- 
tains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself 
with stones. 

6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and wor- 
shipped) him, 

7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I 
to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God ? 
I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. 

8 For he said unto him, Come" out of the man, thou 
unclean spirit. 

9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he 
answered, saying, My name is Legion ; ' for we are 
many. 



h Matt. 8 : 28, etc. ; Luke 8 : 26, etc i Isa. 65:4 j Ps. 72 : 9 k Acts 16 : 18; Heb. 2: 14; 1 John 3 : 8 1 Matt. 12:45. 



other instructive difference in the three reports of 
the Evangelists here. According to Matthew, 
Christ first rebuked the disciples ; according to 
Mark and Luke, first the sea, then the disciples. 
According to Matthew he characterizes them as 
of "little faith; " according to Mark he asked, 
How have ye no faith ? according to Luke, Where 
is your faith ? The spirit of the rebuke is the 
same in all the accounts ; very probably neither 
has preserved Christ's exact words. That 
he first stilled the tempest and then addressed 
his admonition to the disciples seems to me 
most probable ; for during the howling of the 
storm his admonition could have had but little 
effect. Observe that it is Matthew, whose repre- 
sentation of the appeal of the disciples is, Lord 
save, we perish, who reports his reply as "Ye of 
little faith." There may have been a glimmering 
hops in their call, that he who had wrought 
other miracles could save them from this peril. 
That they did not expect it is evident from the 
next verse. Trench expresses well their mental 
state. "They had it (faith) as the weapon 
which a soldier has, but cannot lay hold of at the 
moment when he needs it the most. Their sin 
lay, not in seeking help of him ; for this indeed 
became them well ; but in the excess of their ter- 
ror." It must not, however, be forgotten that 
the peril was, in seeming, imminent. Nothing 
less would have terrified these fishermen, accus- 
tomed to the perils of the sea. 

41. And they feared exceedingly. Mat- 
thew says, The men feared, which Alford inter- 
prets as " the men who were in the ship, besides 
our Lord and his disciples." But there is no in- 
dication that there were any other men. See ver. 
36. That his disciples should be astonished at the 
miracle accords with what is said of them on other 

Occasions (Matt. 16 : 6, 7 ; Mark 6 : 52 ; John 6 : 5-9 ; 20 : 25). 

The direct lesson of this incident appears to 
me to be that Christ is the Lord of nature, that 
we may trust him in times of peril from wind, 
or lightning, or wave, or earthquake. He does 
not always deliver ; but always the winds and the 
sea obey him. Compare the 0. T. teaching of 
Psalms 89 : 8, 9 ; 93 : i. Contrast with his com- 



mand to nature Elijah's prayer to the God of 
nature (James 5 : 17, is). The commentators have 
delighted to treat this incident allegorically. 
Thus Augustine : " We are sailing in this life as 
through a sea, and the wind rises, and storms of 
temptation are not wanting. Whence is this, 
save because Jesus is sleeping in thee. If he 
were not sleeping in thee, thou wouldest live 
calm within. But what means this, that Jesus 
is sleeping in thee, save that thy faith, that 
which is from Jesus, is slumbering in thine 
heart? What shalt thou do to be delivered? 
Arouse him, and say, Master, we perish. He 
will awaken ; that is, thy faith will return to 
thee, and abide with thee always. When Christ 
is awakened, though the tempest beat into, yet 
it will not fill thy ship ; thy faith will now com- 
mand the winds and the waves, and the danger 
will be over." So again Quesnel : "The ship in 
the midst of the sea is an emblem of the church 
in the midst of the world. We ought to expect 
to meet with tempests in the church, and to see 
it covered with waves." " The waves of heresy 
toss it from without ; but the corruption of 
manners within, like the water which beat into 
this ship, puts it in much greater danger of per- 
ishing." Carrying out this allegory, we may 
observe, (1) Christ's presence does not prevent 
our ship of life from being endangered ; but if 
he is with us it cannot be wrecked. (2.) Our 
unuttered but often heart-felt reproaches of a 
seemingly indifferent Christ, " Carest thou not 
that we perish?" are always unjust. (3.) To 
timid disciples, who imagine, because of sudden 
and serious storms, that all is lost, for them- 
selves, their children, the nation, or the church, 
Christ still says, Why are ye fearful ? How is it 
that ye have no faith ? (4. ) He does not always 
bring the help he might, nor as soon as he might 

(comp. Mark 6 : 48 ; John 11 : 6). But he asks US to trust 

him alike when he comes and when he tarries, 
when he seems to be watching and when he seems 
to be sleeping. 

Ch. 5 : 1-21. Cure or the Gadarene De- 
moniac. Matt. 8 : 38-35 ; Luke 8 : 26-39. See 
notes on Matthew, where I have discussed, briefly, 



Oh. V.] 



MAEK. 



355 



10 And he besought him much, that he would not 
send them away out of the country. 

ii Now there was there, nigh unto the mountains, a 
great herd of swine m feeding. 

12 And all the devils besought" him, saying, Send us 
into the swine, that we may enter into them. 

13 And forthwith Jesus gave" them leave. And the 
unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine : 
and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the 
sea, (they were about two thousand,) and were choked 
in the sea. 

14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the 
city, and in the country. And they went out to see 
what it was that was done. 

15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was 
possessed with the devil, and p had the legion, sitting, 
and clothed, and in his right mind : and they were 
afraid. 1 



16 And they that saw it, told them how it befell to 
him that was possessed with the devil, and also con- 
cerning the swine. 

17 And they began to pray him to depart ' out of 
their coasts. 

18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had 
been possessed with the devil prayed him that he 
might be with him. 

19 Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto 
him, Go home to thy friends, and s tell them how great 
things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had com- 
passion on thee. 

20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decapo- 
lis how great things Jesus had done for him : and all 
men did marvel. 

21 And when Jesus was passed over again by ship 
unto the other side, much people gathered unto him : 
and he was nigh unto the sea. 



: 7, 8; Deut. 14: 8.. 
q Job 13: 11; Ps. 



.n Job 1 : 10, 12; 2 
14: 5; 2 Tim. 1:7.. 



I, 6 o Rev. 13 : 7 ; 1 Pet. 3 : 22 ; Job 5 : 26. . 

■ Job 21 : 14 1 Luke 5:8; Acts 16 : 39 s Ps. 



.p Isa. 49 : 25 ; Col. 
5:16; Isa. 38 : 19. 



the phenomena of demoniacal possession, p. 12?. 
Matthew mentions two possessed of devils, Mark 
and Luke but one. On this discrepancy see 
notes on Luke. 

3-6. This description of the possessed is more 
detailed, definite, and graphic 
than is afforded by either of 
the other Evangelists. Mat- 
thew attempts no descrip- 
tion ; Luke's is briefer. The 
great muscular strength, and 
the habit of self-wounding 
here referred to, are not un- 
common in certain cases of 
modern lunacy. Luke adds 
that " he wore no clothes ; " 
and the propensity to go en- 
tirely naked is also charac- 
teristic of certain forms of 
mental disease. The tombs 
are not infrequently used in 
Palestine by certain of ilie 
poorer classes as dwelling- 
places. Their character 
(caves cut in the rock) makes 
them a perfect shelter. 
Tombs are found in the im- 
mediate vicinity of Gersa, 
the scene of this miracle. 
The annexed cut of such a 
tomb is from The New Testa- 
ment Illustrated. 

10. That he would not 
send them out of the 
country. Equivalent to, 
"That he would not com- 
mand them to go out into 
the deep," that is, back into 
their prison-house. See Luke 
8 : 31, note. 

18-20. On this request and Christ's reply, see 
note on Luke 8 : 38, 39. It is not mentioned by 
Matthew. — Decapolis. See note on Matt. 4 : 25. 



Ch. 5 : 22-43. CURE OF THE WOMAN WITH AN IS- 
SUE OP BLOOD- RAISING OE JAIRUS' DAUGHTER.— 
Christ's cuke op superstition.— Christ's inter- 
pretation OP DEATH. 

Compare Matt. 9 : 18-20, and Luke 8 : 41-56. 




ROCK CUT TOMB AT GADARA. 

Matthew gives a definite note of time, from which 
it appears that these miracles immediately fol- 
lowed the feast made by Matthew or Levi to Christ 
(Matt. 9 : is). But when that feast was given is not 



356 



MAKK. 



[Ch. V. 



22 And,' behold, there cometh one of the rulers of 
the synagogue, Jairus by name ; and when he saw hirn, 
he fell at his feet, 

23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little 
daughter lieth at the point" of death : I pray thee, come 
and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed ; and 
she shall live. 

24 And Jesus went with him ; and much people fol- 
lowed him, and thronged him. 

25 And a certain woman, which had an issue v of 
blood twelve years, 

26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, 



and had spent all that she had, and was nothing w bet- 
tered, but rather grew worse, 

27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press 
behind, and touched x his garment : 

28 For she said, If 1 may touch but his clothes, I 
shall be whole. 

29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was 
dried up : and she felt in her body that she was healed 
of that plague. 

30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that 
virtue 1 had gone out of him, turned him about in the 
press, and said, Who touched my clothes ? 



t Mjtt. 9 : 18, etc. ; Luke 8 : 41, etc. 



[ Ps. 107 : 18. . 
: 21 ; Matt. 14 



.v Lev. 15 : 19, etc w Job 13 : 4; Ps 

36 ; Acts 5 : 15; 19 : 12 y Luke 6 : IS 



: 12 ; Jer. 30 : 12, 13. ...» 2 Kings 



SO Clear (see Matt. 9 : 9-13, Prel. Note, p. 127). There is 

some difference in the accounts of the three 
Evangelists, those of Mark and Luke being much 
fuller than that of Matthew. The comparison 
of these three accounts is instructive, and indi- 
cates the independence of the narrators, while 
their substantial accord sustains their trustwor- 
thiness. The more important differences are 
noted below. 

22. One of the rulers of the synagogue. 
That is, one of the board of presbyters or elders 
who managed the affairs of the synagogue ; 
probably the chief or president of the board. 
See Matt. 4 : 23, note.— He fell at his feet. 
Matthew's language, worshipped him, is inter- 
preted by the language here and in Luke. See 
Matt. 8 : 2, note. 

23, 24. My little daughter. She was an 
only daughter, twelve years old (Luke 8 : 42). — 
Lieth at the point of death. Matthew re- 
ports Jairus as saying, " My daughter is even 
now dead." But Matthew makes no mention of 
the delegation described here in verse 35, which 
reported her death. He probably embodied 
the two appeals in one, giving a summary of the 
events which Mark and Luke more fully de- 
scribe. Luke's language is, "She lay a dying." 
— And she shall live. He speaks with an as- 
surance of faith. — And much people follow- 
ed him. Perhaps drawn by curiosity to see 
whether he could heal the maiden. This would 
furnish an additional reason for Christ's exclu- 
sion of all from the room (ver. 40). 

25-29. An issue of blood. A hemorrhage, 
either from the bowels or the womb, probably 
the latter. A private note from Dr. William H. 
Thomson, of New York, to me, in reply to a 
question on this subject, states the reasons for 
this opinion to be, (1) that the latter disease is 
much more common with females than the for- 
mer ; (2) that certain peculiar conditions produce 
prolonged attacks of uterine hemorrhage, which 
are still unmanageable by the most proficient 
members of the profession, and that Lev., ch. 
15, contains severe regulations concerning the 
latter, but says nothing concerning the former 
disease. He adds the noteworthy suggestion : 



"I think the circumstances of the N. T. narra- 
tive render the inference almost certain that this 
account was meant for the consolation of those 
multitudes of stricken women, in all ages, who 
seem to be afflicted with sorrows in very unequal 
measure, compared with the stronger, and so 
generally also the more depraved, sex." — And 
had sutfered many things of many physi- 
cians. Medicine was not in that age a science ; 
disease was exorcised by charms ; the physicians 
resembled in knowledge and practice the medi- 
cine-man of the North American Indians. See 
Abbott's Jesus of Nazareth, pp. 157, 158. Light- 
foot gives an account of some of the prescrip- 
tions contained in the Rabbinical books for this 
disease. One will suffice to illustrate the sort 
of things she had suffered from the physicians : 
"Let them dig seven ditches, in which let them 
burn some cuttings of such vines as are not cir- 
cumcised (i. e., are not yet four years old) ; let 
her take in her hand a cup of wine ; let them 
lead her away from this ditch, and make her sit 
down over that ; let them remove her from that, 
and make her sit down over another. In every 
removal you must say to her, 'Arise for thy 
flux.'" — But rather grew worse. Observe 
her sorrowful condition, sick, impoverished, 
helpless. — Touched his garment. Matthew 
and Luke say, "The hem of his garment." This 
was a peculiar fringe, required by the law (N»mi. 
15 : 37-40 ; Deut. 22 : 12). The Jews paid to it a super- 
stitious reverence (Matt. 23: 5, note and uius.). Shar- 
ing this superstition, and imagining that Christ 
healed by a sort of magic, this woman touched 
it in hope of cure. An ordinary teacher would 
have rebuked her superstition ; Christ used it to 
teach her better. Observe that Christ complied 
with Jewish law and Jewish usage in his attire. — 
For she said. " Within herself " (Matt. 9:21). — 
She was healed. Compare Mark 6 : 56 ; Luke 
6 : 19, for similar cases of healing, in all of which, 
however, says Olshausen, "the cures plainly ap- 
pear to be actions of his (Christ's) will." See, 
also, Acts 5 : 15 ; 19 : 12. 

30. Jesus immediately knowing that 
power had gone out of him. According to 
Luke, he said, "I perceive that power is gone 



Ch. V.] 



MAKK. 



357 



31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the 
multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who 
touched me ? 

32 And he looked round about to see her that had 
done this thing. 



33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing 
what was done in her, came and fell down before him, 
and told 2 him all the truth. 

34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith a hath 
made thee whole : go » in peace, and be whole of thy 
plague. 



1 Pb. 30 : 2 a ch. 10 : 52 ; Acts 14 : 9 b 1 Sam. 1:17; 20 : 42 ; 2 Kings 5 : 19. 



out of me." He consciously put forth the power 
for her healing. The idea that the woman was 
healed by the garment and without the conscious 
will of Christ, repeats the superstition of the 
woman, which this incident is recorded to cor- 
rect. Christ, not his garment, healed. See 
below, Lessons of this incident. — And said, Who 
touched my clothes ? Not because he was 
ignorant, for his searching glance showed to the 
woman that she was not hid from him (Luke 8 : 47), 
but to draw out her confession of her faith. For 
illustration of similar questions, see Gen. 3:9; 
4 : 9 ; 2 Kings 5 : 25 ; Luke 24 : 19. Olshausen 
and Trench compare the question to that of "a 
father coming among his children, and demand- 
ing, Who committed this fault ? himself con- 
scious, even while he asks, but at the same time 
willing to bring the culprit to a free confession, 
and so to put him in a pardonable state." 

31. His disciples said unto him. Peter 
was the spokesman ( Luke 8 : 45). The commentators 
have noted the difference between thronging 
Christ and touching him. " Many throng Christ ; 
his in name ; near to him outwardly ; in actual 
contact with the sacraments and ordinances of 
his church ; yet not touching him, because not 
drawing nigh in faith, not looking for, and there- 
fore not obtaining, life and healing from Him." 
— (Trench.) The contrasted notes of Words- 
worth and Afford on this verse are so suggestive 
that I transcribe them both. " A solemn warn- 
ing to all who crowd on Christ ; who use his name 
lightly and profanely ; who make familiar ad- 
dresses to him in so-called religious hymns ; 
who treat with carelessness and irreverence his 
day, his house, his sacraments, his ministers ; or 
who read his holy Scriptures in a carping spirit, 
handling them as a common book. Although 
such as these may crowd upon Christ in his 
word, with a pressure of earthly labor and 
learning, they never touch him." — ( Wordsworth. ) 
" It is difficult to imagine how the miracle should 
be, as Dr. Wordsworth, ' a solemn warning to all 
who crowd on Christ ; ' or how such a forbidding 
to come to him could be reconciled with ' Come 
unto me, all ye that labor.' Rather should we 
say, seeing it was one of those that thus crowded 
on him who obtained grace from him, that it is a 
blessed encouragement to us not only to crowd 
on him, but even to touch him ; so to crowd on 
him as never to be content until we have grasped, 
if it be but his garment, for ourselves ; not to de- 



spise or discourage any of the least of those who 
make familiar addresses to him in so-called 
religious hymns, seeing that thus some of them 
may touch him to the healing of their souls. I 
much fear that if my excellent friend had been 
keeping order among the multitude on the way 
to the house of Jairus, this poor woman would 
never have been allowed to get near to Jesus. 
But I hope and trust that he and I shall rejoice 
together one day in his presence, amidst a greater 
crowd, whom no man can number, of all na- 
tions and kindreds and peoples and tongues."— 
(Alford.) 

32. To see her who had done this thing. 
Observe, not to see who had done it, i. e., inquir- 
ingly, but to see her who had done it. The impli- 
cation is that she was already known to him. 

33, 34. The woman fearing and trem- 
bling. If the hemorrhage was from the womb, 
the woman would be ceremonially unclean, and 
whoever touched her would be unclean until 
even (Lev. 15 : 25, 27). Perhaps the woman feared 
Christ's anger, and his rebuke for polluting him 
by her touch, or possibly, the indignation of 
others in the crowd, in which she had joined, 
without in any way indicating her uncleanness. 
It thus showed a very considerable confidence 
in him, to throw herself upon his compassion and 
tell all, as she did. — Knowing what was done 
in her. And that " she was not hid " (Luke 8 : 47). 
— Thy faith hath made thee whole. — Be- 
cause by faith she had laid hold on Christ who 
had made her whole. Compare Ephes. 2 : 8. 
" More than once a person first learned that he 
had faith when the Saviour told him of it." — 
(Bengel.) — Go in peace. So the healing was to 
mind as well as to body. Go, not fearing and 
trembling, nor in uneasiness lest the trouble 
return. — Be whole of thy plague, i. e., perma- 
nently whole. These words are Christ's assur- 
ance that the relief is not temporary but final. 

Lesson of this incident. To suppose that vir- 
tue resided in Jesus' garment, not in his will, 
is to wholly miss the meaning of this incident. 
The woman superstitiously reverenced the sacred 
fringe and pressed forward to touch it, hoping 
so to be healed. Christ knowing her approach 
cured her, not by touch, or even word, but by a 
mere act of will. Then, when she was healed, 
he turned him about, fixed his eye upon her, 
then made manifest to her that she was not 
hid and by his question called forth a public 



358 



35 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of 
the synagogue's house, certain which said, Thy daugh- 
ter is dead : c why troublest thou the Master any fur- 
ther? 

36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, 
he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, 
only d believe. 



MARK. [Ch V. 

37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save e Pe- 
ter, and James, and John the brother of James. 

38 And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the 
synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept 
and wailed greatly. 

39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, 
Why make ye this ado, and weep ? the damsel is not 
dead, but sleepeth.' 



c John 5: 25; 11 : 25 d 2 Chron. 20: 20; Jobn 11 ; 40. ...e ch. 9 : 2; 14: 33 f John 11 : 11-13. 



confession from her who, before the healing, 
lacked the courage to make it. So interpreted 
I find in it these lessons : (1.) It is not merely 
intelligent faith which saves, but faith, even when 
mated to and marred by superstition. The 
superstitious reverence which regards the hem 
of Christ's garment is better than the super- 
cilious wisdom which rejects Christ himself. 
"This is a most encouraging miracle for us to 
recollect when we are disposed to think despond- 
ingly of the ignorance or superstition of much 
of the Christian world ; that he who accepted 
this woman for her faith, even in error and weak- 
ness, may also accept them." — (Alford.) (2.) 
The proper method of dealing with and curing 
honest superstition, viz., not by attacking the 
superstition, but by encouraging the faith which 
underlies it, and directing that faith from the 
material object to the living Christ. Compare 
Paul's course in Athens, Acts 17 : 22, 23, note, 
and apply to our dealings with honest Romanists 
whose faith in the hem of Christ's garment is 
sometimes a rebuke to our doubt of Christ him- 
self. (3. ) Christ's tenderness with the weak and 
the ignorant. "A bruised reed will he not 
break. ' ' Ignorance and error need never keep the 
soul from him. "It would have been too hard to 
have required her, before her cure, to speak 
openly in the presence of the people. Our gra- 
cious Lord, therefore, softened the difficulty by 
making this demand subsequent to the cure, and 
thus helped her along the narrow way." — 
(Olshausen.) (4.) But he required an open con- 
fession, a very striking illustration of the truth 
that " Christ will have himself openly confessed, 
and not only secretly sought ; that our Christian 
life is not, as it is sometimes called, merely a 
thing between ourselves and God ; but a good 
confession to be witnessed ' before all the people ' 
(Lnke 8 : 4t)." — (Alford.) Comp. Matt, 10 : 32; 
1 Tim. 6 : 12. 

35, 36. There came * * * certain. 
According to Luke, a single messenger ; Mark's 
language indicates more than one. Probably 
others, volunteers, accompanied the messenger. 
— Thy daughter is dead. It is clear, then, 
that the immediate friends did not believe in the 
modem theory that this was a case of syncope. 
—Why troublest thou the Master? This 
might be the language of those who truly recog- 



nize in Jesus a Master. I should rather regard 
it as an indication that only the ruler had faith 
in Christ, and that his friends, who could not dis- 
suade him from appealing to our Lord while his 
daughter lived, hoped to do so by the report of 
her death. The language of verse 40 confirms this 
opinion. — As soon as Jesus had overheard. 
The original in the best MSS. indicate that the 
message was not intended for Jesus, but was over- 
heard by him. Tischendorf renders it, Having 
casually heard the word ; Alford, Having straight- 
way overheard. It is noted that Christ anticipates 
the ruler and speaks words of cheer, before the 
latter can give expression to doubt and fear. — 
Be not afraid; only believe. Luke adds, 
"And she shall be made whole." 

37. The whole multitude, doubtless, followed 
Jesus to the house. It was after the exclusion of 
the mourners (verse 40) that he suffered only the 
three disciples and the parents to go with him 
into the room where the dead lay. This is the 
first time, but not the last, that peculiar honor 
was conferred upon these three. Comp. Mark 
9:2; 14 : 33. Why this choice among the chosen 
twelve ? We can no more answer, than we can 
tell why, in this day, Christ discriminates in his 
gifts to his church. We can only say, It is his will. 

38. Them that wept and wailed greatly. 
Including professional mourners, in Matthew 
designated as "minstrels." "In the Orient, yet 
more than with us, mourning customs are con- 
ventional. Fashion dictates them. The friends 
of the dead beat their breasts, make the house 
resound with their lamentations, cover their 
heads, cut their flesh, put on the habiliments 
of grief, and rend their garments. There are 
with them, as with us, various shades of grief 
nicely expressed in external symbol. The length 
of the rent in the garments is accurately deter- 
mined by the relation of the deceased. Profes- 
sional women, skillful in the simulation of grief, 
are hired to swell the songs of lamentation on 
these occasions (.Jer. 9 : n, is ; Amos 5 : 16). Acquaint- 
ing themselves with the private sorrows of their 
auditors, and interweaving in their chants the 
story of their woes, they evoke their tears, and 
thus add amateur to professional weeping. Such 
was the scene which Christ found enacted in the 
house of the prelate when he arrived." — (Abbott's 
Jesus of Nazareth.) Playing of dirges on flutes 



Oh. V.] 



MAEK. 



359 



40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he 
had put them all out, he taketh the father and the 
mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, 
and entereth in where the damsel was lying. 

41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said 
unto her, Talitha cumi : which is, being interpreted, 
Damsel, I say unto thee, arisen 



42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked ; 
for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were 
astonished with a great astonishment. 

43 And he charged h them straitly that no man should 
know it; and commanded that something should be 
given her to eat. 



g Acts 9 :40 h ch. 3: 12; Matt. 8:4; 12: 16-18; Luke 5: 14. 



or other instruments accompanied this profes- 
sional mourning. Similar customs prevailed in 
Greece and Rome, and to the present day exist 
in Ireland. In France and Italy professional 
mourners are also employed in the funerals of 
the wealthy. The annexed cut, from an ancient 
sarcophagus, represents three professional mour- 
ners in the attitudes and actions of grief. 
Christ's act in excluding these mourners from 
the house, is a protest against conventional and 
hypocritical grief. 




ANCIENT MOURNING-WOMEN. 

39. Not dead but sleepeth. Even so 
evangelical a writer as Olshausen has taken this 
literally, and supposed the case of the maiden to 
be one of syncope. But, according to Lightf oot, it 
was a common thing among the rabbis to express 
the idea of death by the metaphor of sleep. 
Christ' slanguage here is not more explicit than in 
John 11 : 11. Comp. Deut. 31 : 16 ; 1 Thess. 4 : 13. 
The whole account of this incident is inconsistent 
with the idea that the maiden was simply raised 
from slumber or a fainting fit. She is reported 
dead by the messenger (ver. 35) ; is known to be 
dead to the bystanders (Luke s ■. 53) ; on Christ's 
taking her by the hand her spirit returns to her 

again (Lake 8: 65 j comp. 1 Kings 17 : 21, 22), though this 

does not of itself necessarily imply her death 
(comp. judges is : io) ; and the account of the cure 
(ver. 42, note) implies, not a natural awakening from 
sleep, but a miraculous resurrection from the 
dead. It seems to me unquestionable that the 
historian believed in the death, and the miracu- 
lous resurrection from the dead, of this maiden. 

40. And they laughed him to scorn. 
Because they knew that she was dead (Luke 8 : 53). 
Chrysostom suggests that it was Christ's object 



to impress upon the minds of the people the 
death of the maiden, that he might anticipate 
the objection of subsequent unbelievers that she 
was not dead; and he quotes as parallel the 
cases of Moses and his rod (Exod. 4 : 2), and of 
Lazarus (John 11 : 34, 39). — When he had put 
them all out. From a comparison of the three 
accounts, it would appear that the minstrels 
were in an outer room ; Christ stops the mourn- 
ing, orders the mourners to leave, and then en- 
ters the inner room where the damsel is, accom- 
panied only by the parents and the three 
disciples. The reason of this exclusion, and of 
the prohibition of verse 43, is, he will not have 
the faith of the people rest on his miracle. 
Meyer observes that Christ never forbids that 
men should know his teaching. He has no mys- 
teries in his doctrines which he hides from the 
public. Observe the incidental evidence of the 
father's faith ; though the maiden is dead, he 
allows the mourning to be stopped and the 
mourners to be sent away. Christ is truly 
" master " in this house. 

41. Talitha cumi. This is Aramaic, the 
language generally spoken by the common peo- 
ple in Palestine at the time of Christ. Its pres- 
ence here, and in Mark 7 : 34 and 15 : 34, is an 
indication that Christ used this language in his 
ordinary intercourse with the Jews. But some- 
times, as in his conference with Pilate, he must 
probably have used the Greek. The indication 
of verbal fidelity in this report is considered an 
evidence that Mark derived his report from Pe- 
ter, who was an ear-witness. — Damsel awake. 
"I say unto thee" is properly put in paren- 
thesis ; it is not in the original Aramaic phrase, 
but is added as an interpretation by the Evan- 
gelist. The word which I have rendered awake 
is different from that translated arise in the fol- 
lowing verse. 

42, 43. And straightway; not after a 
time, as if arousing from a trance, or as in the 
case of the boy raised by the prayer of Elisha 
(2 Kings 4 : 34, 35). — The damsel arose; the verb 
is the same used in the N. T. in describing un- 
doubted resurrection from the dead (Luke 16 : 31 ; 
join 6 : 54; 11 : 23, 24; 20 : 9) ; and walked ; an evi- 
dence of the completeness of her restoration. 
One who had been at the point of death (ver. 23), 
and was simply aroused from syncope, could not 
have walked, except by the miraculous imparta- 



360 



MAEK. 



[Ch. VI. 



CHAPTER VI. 

AND he went out from thence, and came into his 
own country ; and his disciples follow him. 
2 And ' when the sabbath day was come, he began to 
teach in the synagogue: and many, hearing him, were 
astonished, saying, From i whence hath this man these 



things ? and what wisdom is this which is given unto 
him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his 
hands ? 

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the 
brother of James," and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? 
and are not his sisters here with us ? And they were 
offended ' at him. 



i Matt. 13 : 54, etc. ; Luke 4 : 16, etc j John 6 : 42 k Gal. 1:19 1 Matt. 11 : 6. 



tion of strength. The command to give her 
something to eat evidenced the reality of the 
resurrection ; it was a tangible proof to the par- 
ents that it was rio apparition they saw. Comp. 
Luke 34 : 30 ; John 20 : 27 ; 31 : 13. Perhaps it 
was given in part to prevent too great revulsion 
of feeling in the parents, by giving them some- 




There are three specific cases of resurrection 
from the dead wrought by Christ — this, that of 
the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7 : n-is), and 
that of Lazarus (join, ch. n). In the first the 
miracle is performed immediately after death ; in 
the second, at least twenty-four hours after 
death, and during the passage of the funeral 
procession to the grave ; in the third, 
four days after burial, and after corrup- 
tion would naturally have commenced ; 
in the first case privately, in the second 
before the people, in the third before 
embittered enemies ; in each case by 
a word, with no effort, with no appeal 
to God, though in the case of Lazarus 
with a public acknowledgment to God. 
Thus Christ shows his power to destroy 
the last enemy, which is death. "Let 
no man, therefore, beat himself any more, 
nor wail, neither disparage Christ's 
achievement. For indeed he overcame 
death. Why then dost thou wail for 
nought ? The thing is become a sleep. 
Why lament and weep ? "—(Chrysostom.) 



EGYPTIAN CABFENTER'S TOOLS. 
1, 2, 3, 4. Chisels and drills. 9. Horn of oil. 

5. Part of drill. 10. Mallet. 

6. Nut of wood belonging to drill. 11. Bag for nails. 

7. 8. Saws. 12. Basket which held 

thing to do. Comp. John 11 : 44.— They were 
astonished. Luke says, "Her parents."— 
That no man should know it. Matthew, 
who describes this event from the position of 
one without, and gives less details, says that the 
fame of the miracle went abroad. 



Ch. 6 : 1-6. Christ Rejected 
again at Nazareth. Matt. 13 : 53-58. 
See notes there. He had been rejected 
by the Nazarenes once before (Luke 4: 

34-29, and notes). 

2, 3. Whence hath this man 
these things ? This question of the 
Nazarenes uttered in contempt, we 
may repeat in seriousness, to the un- 
belief of to-day, which accounts Jesus 
of Nazareth only a carpenter's son. — 
The carpenter. The implication is, 
that he actually worked with his father 
at the trade ; and it is confirmed by 
the fact that every father was required 
by Jewish custom, to teach his son 
a trade, that he might be able by his 
industry to earn an independent live- 
the tools, lihood. The fact is itself a rebuke of 
the unchristian pride which despises me- 
chanical employments. The Jews derived their 
civilization largely from Egypt ; therefore the 
annexed cut, representing the tools of an Egyp- 
tian carpenter, the originals of which are now in 
the British Museum (see Wilkinson's Egypt, II, 
112), probably gives a just idea of the general 



Oh. VI.] 



MARK. 



361 



4 But Jesus said unto them, m A prophet is not with- 
out honour, but in his own country, and among his 
own kin, and in his own house. 

5 And " he could there do no mighty work, save that he 
laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 

6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. 
And p he went round about the villages, teaching. 

7 And" he called unto him the twelve, and began to 
send them forth by two and two, and gave them power 
over unclean spirits • 

8 And commanded them that they should take noth- 
ing for their journey, save a staff only ; no scrip, no 
bread, no money in their purse : 



9 But be shod ' with sandals ; s and not put on two 
coats. 

io And he said unto them, In what place soever ye 
enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that 
place. 

ii And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear 
you, when ye depart thence, shake l off the dust under 
your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say 
unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Go- 
morrah in the day of judgment, than for that city. 

12 And they went out, and preached that men should 
repent." 

13 And they cast out many' devils, and anointed 
with oil w many that were sick, and healed them. 



m Matt. 13:57; John 4 : 44. . . .n eh. 9 : 23 ; Gen. 19 : 22. . . .0 Isa. 59 : 16 ; Jer. 2 : 12 p Matt. 9 : 35 ; Luke 13: 22; Acts 10 : 38 q cb. 

3: 13, etc.; Matt. 10:1, etc. ; Luke 9 : 1, etc. ; 10: 3, etc r Ephes. 6 : 15 3 Acts 12 : 8 t Neh. 5 : 13 ; Acts 13 ; 51 u Luke 24 : 47 ; 

Acts 2 :38; 3 : 19 v Luke 10 : 17 w James 5 : 14. 



nature of the tools used in Joseph's carpenter's 
shop in Nazareth. 

4. Not without honor but in his own 
country. A superficial knowledge of Jesus 
may prevent a truer and more spiritual acquaint- 
ance with him. 

5. And he could there do no mighty 
work. Matthew states definitely the reason, 
" because of their unbelief " (Matt. 13 : 58). Alford 
says, " The want of ability here spoken of is not 
absolute but relative. The same voice which could 
still the tempest, could anywhere and under any 
circumstances have commanded diseases to obey ; 
but in most cases of human infirmity, it was our 
Lord's practice to require faith in the recipient 
of aid, and that being wanting, the help could 
not be given." Similarly Theophylact, "Not that 
he was weak, but that they were faithless. ' ' But 
is this all ? May we not say that among the con- 
ditions to which Christ subjected himself on earth 
was this, that he put forth his powers of healing 
only as a means of spiritual development, and only, 
therefore, to those in whom at least a germ of 
faith was awakened ; and that this being want- 
ing, he could not heal, without violating the fun- 
damental principle of his life ? Nay, may we not 
go further and think it at least probable, since 
Christ always called for the exercise of faith in 
the patient, that his miraculous cures were not 
wrought merely by the exercise of a physical 
power on the body, but in a considerable meas- 
ure through the connection of mind and body, 
the healing power of Christ having, by the very 
constitution of human nature, to act on the 
mental or spiritual nature, before it could prove 
effectual on the body, and hence it could not prove 
effectual except as the sufferer exercised faith ? 
And may we not say further, that this essential 
principle still holds good, that, by its very nature, 
his salvation can be made available only to such 
as are willing in humble trust to accept it, and 
that where that trust is wanting, it is still true 
that Christ cannot do the mighty work of salva- 
tion? The language employed here does not 
necessarily imply a literal want of power, as is evi- 



dent from the analogous expression in Gen. 32 : 25. 
That the divine remedy is in fact efficacious only 
where there is faith to receive it, is illustrated and 
enforced by many passages of Scripture. See, 
for examples, Isaiah 59 : 1, 2 ; Mark 9 : 23 ; He- 
brews 4 : 2. 

6. He marveled. Their unbelief was a real 
wonder to him. Compare Matt. 8 : 10, note. — 
He went round about the villages. See 
Matt. 9 : 35, note. 

7- 13. Christ's Commission of the Twelve. 
Matt. 10 : 1^2; Luke 9 : 1-6. The account 
is much the fullest in Matthew. See notes 
there. According to Matthew they were not 
to provide a staff; here one is permitted. The 
true explanation is, that they were to go as they 
were, without providing a staff for the journey, 
but using one if they already possessed it. The 
scrip was a bag used for carrying food, answer- 
ing to the modern haversack. For bread, they 
were to depend on the hospitality of the villages 
(Matt. 10:11-14). The "money" here is, literally, 
brass or copper ; even the smallest money was not 
to be provided by them. In Matthew they are 
directed not to wear shoes ; here, to be shod with 
sandals. The shoe of the ancients resembled the 
modern shoe ; the sandal was simply a sole of 
leather, felt, cloth, or wood bound upon the feet 
by thongs, the shoe-latchet of Mark 1 : 7. The 
former was for more delicate use. See Matt. 
10 : 10, note. Our illustrations show the staff 
and the scrip of the East, and the ancient shoes 
and sandals. With the staff and scrip is also 
represented a leather or skin bottle, such as 
travelers often used for carrying liquids on jour- 
neys where water was likely to be inaccessible. 
The reference to anointing with oil (ver. 13) is 
peculiar to Mark. Oil was in the O. T. a symbol 
of divine grace, and anointing with oil a symbol 
of the gift of the Spirit. See Matt. 25 : 1-13, 
Prel. Note. Anointing with oil appears here to 
have been used as a means of teaching the lesson 
that the healing was wrought by the disciples, 
not as necromancers — with whom they might 
otherwise have been confounded, but as Apostles 



362 



MAEK. 



[Oh. VI. 



i4 And x king Herod heard of him : (for his name 
was spread abroad ;) and he said, That John the Bap- 
tist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty 
works do shew forth themselves in him. 

15 Others 1 said, That it is Elias. And others said, 
That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets. 



16 But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, 
whom I beheaded : he is risen from the dead. 

17 For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold 
upon John, and bound him in prison, for Herodias' 
sake, his brother Philip's wife : for he had married 
her. 



x Matt. 14 : 1, etc. ; Luke 9 : 7, etc y ch. 8 : 28 ; Matt, 16 : 14. 



of the Lord, and through the gift of his grace. 
It is evident from the general tenor of the in- 
structions that the oil was not taken by them, 
but was such as they found at the houses. The 



practice of using oil in this way was practiced 
long after (james 5 : 14). There is nothing in this 
passage to justify the extreme unction of the 
Romish Church, for that is administered in the 




STAFF, SCEIP, AND SKIN BOTTLE. 

hour of death, to prepare the soul spiritually for 
the last great change ; this in case of sickness, as 
a symbol of the miraculous gift of restoration of 
the body to health. 

14-29. The Death of John the Baptist. 
Matt. 14 : 1-12 ; Luke 9 : 7-9. See notes on Mat- 
thew. Luke refers to, but does not describe the 
death of John the Baptist. Mark gives some par- 
ticulars not given in Matthew. Prom his account 
we learn that it was Herodias who instigated the 
imprisonment of John (vev. 17), that Herod was 
kept back from earlier putting John to death, 
not only by a fear of the people (Matt. 14 : 5), but 
also by a real regard for the prophet (ver. 20), that 
the snare for the king was laid by the mother 
(ver. si, note\ that the maiden went and asked 
counsel of her mother before preferring her re- 
quest for the head of the prophet, and that he 
was beheaded by one of the Tetrarch's body-guard 
(ver. 27, note). On the true chronology, see Matt. 
14:1. 

14. And king Herod heard of him. In 
strictness of speech he was Tetrarch, not king. 
Matt. 14 : 1. — His name was spread abroad. 
Increasingly so by the mission of the twelve. 

15. A prophet, like one of the prophets. 





The conjunction or is not in the original. Alford 
gives the meaning well : " He is not the Prophet 
for whom all are waiting, but only some prophet 
like those who have gone before." 

17. Bound him in prison. This prison, 
as we learn from Josephus, was in the fortified 
citadel of Machaerus. See Matt. 11 : 2, note. 
Recent investigations have brought to light the 
ruins of this fortress, and even the dungeons 
connected with it. Mr. Tristram {Land ofMoab, 
p. 272) thus describes the citadel and dungeons 
annexed to it : "The citadel was placed on the 
summit of the cone, which is the apex of a long 
flat ridge, running for more than a mile from west 
to east. The whole of this ridge appears to have 
been one extensive fortress, the key of which 
was kept on the top of the cone, an isolated and 
almost impregnable work, but very small, being 
circular and exactly one hundred yards in diam- 
eter. The wall of circumvallation can be clearly 
traced, its foundations all standing out for a 
yard or two above the surface ; but the interior 
remains are few. One well of great depth, a very 
large and deep, oblong, cemented cistern, with the 
vaulting of the roof still remaining, and — most 
interesting of all — two dungeons, one of them 



Oh. VI.] 



MARK. 



363 



18 For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful 2 
for thee to have thy brother's wife. 

19 Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and 
would have killed him ; but she could not. 

20 For Herod feared " John, knowing that he was a 
just man and an holy, and observed him ; and when he 
heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. 

21 And when a convenient day was come, that Her- 
od on his b birthday made a supper to his lords, high 
captains, and chief estates of Galilee ; 

22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came 
in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat 
with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me 
whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. 

23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever d thou shalt 
ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my king- 
dom. 



24 And she went forth, and said unto her mother, 
What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the 
Baptist. 

25 And she came in straightway, with haste unto the 
king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by 
and by, in a charger, the head e of John the Baptist. 

26 And the king was exceeding sorry : yet for his 
oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he 
would not reject her. 

27 And immediately the king sent an executioner, 
and commanded his head to be brought : and he went, 
and beheaded him in the prison, 

28 And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to 
the damsel : and the damsel gave it to her mother. 

29 And when his disciples heard of it, they ' came 
and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb. 

30 And e the apostles gathered themselves together 



1 Lev. 18: 16.... a Exod. 11 : 13; Ezek. 2 :5-7.. 



.b Gen. 40 : 20.... 0, Isa. 3: 16. 
f Acts 8 : 2 g Luke 9 : 10. 



.d Esther 5: 3, 6; 7: 2....e Ps. 37: 12, 14... 



deep and its sides scarcely broken in, were the 
only remains clearly to be defined. That these 
were dungeons, and not cisterns, is evident from 
there being no traces of cement, which never 
perishes from the walls of ancient reservoirs, and 
from the small holes still visible in the masonry, 
where staples of wood and iron had once been 
fixed. One of these must surely have been the 
prison-house of John the Baptist." But appar- 
ently he was not, throughout his imprisonment, 
kept in such close confinement as this would in- 
dicate, since his disciples had access to him. 

18. It is not lawful. See Matt. 14 : 4, 
note, and Prel. Note to that chapter. 

19. Therefore Herodias was angry with 
him. More literally, held herself against him. 
"Had a quarrel " indicates apersonal controversy 
between them, whereas there is nothing to show 
that the two ever met. — She could not. On 
account of her husband's opposition to her, de- 
scribed in the next verse. 

20. For Herod feared John. Matthew 
says, "he feared the multitude." The two ac- 
counts are not inconsistent. His conscience and 
his fears supported each other. — And preserved 
him. Not observed him, as in our English ver- 
sion. The Greek verb {aisrrtiqiio) is elsewhere 
rendered preserved (Matt. 9 : 17 ; Lukes : 38), and kept 
(Luke 2 : 19). He guarded John from his wife's 
malice, and at the same time kept him in prison, 
and so silenced his public rebuke. 

31. A convenient day. Rather, a season - 
able day, i. e., for the execution of Herodias' 
plans. The implication is that Herodias watched 
her opportunity to obtain by device from her hus- 
band the death of her enemy, and seized this as 
a favorable occasion.— Lords, high captains, 
and first men of Galilee. The first were 
princes, civilians but men of official rank, the 
second military officers, the third, perhaps, 
simply leading men, influential but without spe- 
cial rank or office. 

22-25. Compare notes on Matt. 14 : 6-9. 
The word here rendered by and by (ver. 25) should 



rather be rendered immediately. The charger or 
platter (Luke 11 : 89) was a flat dish answering 
somewhat to the modern waiter. Our illustra- 




and for their 

His conscience, 



THE CHARGER. 

tion represents this dish and its use, as seen at 
the present day in Palestine. 

26. For his oath's sake 
sakes that sat with him. 

which regarded his oath more 
than his higher duty, and his 
fear of public reproach, opera- 
ted now to drive him on to the 
murder, as before they had 
kept him from it. 

27. An executioner. Ra- 
ther, one of his body-guard. 
The Latin version renders it 
" spiculator." " Under the em- 
pire, this name was given to a 
select body of men retained for 
the service of the prince's per- 
son, as a sort of detective force 
and body-guard. They were 
armed with a lance, and are frequently repre- 
sented on the columns of Trajan and Antoninus, 




EXECUTIONER — 

Spiculator. 



364 



MAEK. 



[Ch. VI. 



unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had 
done, and what they had taught. 

31 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart 
into a desert place, and rest a while : for there were 
many coming and going, and they had no leisure so 
much as to eat. 

32 And they departed into a desert place by ship pri- 
vately. 

33 And the people saw them departing, and many 
knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and 
outwent them, and came together unto him. 

34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, 
and was moved with compassion toward them, be- 
cause " they were as sheep not having a shepherd ; and 
he began to teach them many things. 

35 And ' when the day was now far spent, his disci- 
ples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, 
and now the time is far passed : 

36 Send them away, that they may go into the coun- 
try round about, and into the villages, and buy them- 
selves bread : for they have nothing to eat. 

37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them 
to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we-i go and buy 
two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to 
eat? 

38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye ? 
go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and 
two fishes. 

39 And he k commanded them to make all sit down 
by companies upon the green grass. 

40 And they sat down in ranks by hundreds, and by 
fifties. 

41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the 
two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, 1 and 
brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set 
before them ; and the two fishes divided he among 
them all. 

42 And they m did all eat, and were filled. 



43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the frag- 
ments, and of the fishes. 

44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about 
five thousand men. 

45 And straightway n he constrained his disciples to 
get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto 
Bethsaida, while he sent away the people. 

46 And when he had sent them away, he ° departed 
into a mountain to pray. 

47 And when even was come, the ship was in the 
midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. 

48 And he saw them toiling ' in rowing ; for the wind 
was contrary unto them : and about the fourth watch 
of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the 
sea, and would have passed « by them. 

49 But when they saw him walking r upon the sea, 
they s supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out : 

50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And 
immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, 
Be of good cheer : ' it is I ; be not afraid. 

51 And he went up unto them into the ship ; and the" 
wind ceased : and they were sore amazed in themselves 
beyond measure, and wondered. 

52 For they considered not the miracle of the loaves : 
for their heart v was hardened. 

53 And w when they had passed over, they came into 
the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore. 

54 And when they were come out of the ship, 
straightway they knew him, 

55 And ran - x through that whole region round about, 
and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, 
where they heard he was. 

56 And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or 
cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and 
besought him that they might touch/ if it were but the 
border z of his garment : and as many as touched him 
were made whole. 



h 1 Kings 22 : 17 
1 1 Sam. 9:13; Mutt. 
6 



Matt. 14: 15, etc. ; Luke 9 : 15, etc. ; John 6 : 5, etc....j Numb. 11 : 13,22; 2 Kings 4 : 43... .k ch. 8 : 6 ; Matt. 15 : 35.... 

n Matt. 14 : 22, etc. ; John 6 : 11, etc o ch. 1 : 35 ; Matt. 6 : G ; Luke 

" .43 : 2 u Ps. 93 : 3,4 v Isu. 63 : 17 w Malt. 14:34. 

Numb. 15 : 38, 39. 



5 : 26 ; Luke 24 : 30. 



.... Deu 

p Jonah 1 : 13 q Luke 24 : 28 r Job 9: 8 s Luke 24 : 37... 

.x ch. 2 : 1-3 ; Matt, 4 : 24 y ch. 5 : 27, 28 ; Matt. 9 : 20 ; Acts 19:12 



in attendance upon the emperor, or keeping 
guard before his tent, in the manner shown by 
the example annexed." — {Rich's Dictionary.) 

30-56. The feeding op five thousand. — 
Walking on the sea. Of these incidents, the 
first is narrated by all four of the Evangelists — 
Matt. 14 : 13-21 ; Luke 9 : 10-17 ; John 6 . 1-14 ; 
the latter is omitted by Luke, but narrated by 
the other three. John's narrative is fullest. 
Comp. especially John 6 : 5-8. But Matthew 
alone narrates Peter's attempt to walk on the 
sea (Matt. 14 : as-32). Immediately after the return 
of Christ and his Apostles to Capernaum followed 
the sermon in the synagogue, which John alone 
reports. On the chronological order, see note 
on Matthew ; on the incidents themselves and the 
subsequent sermon, see notes on John, ch. 6. 

30, 31. These verses are peculiar to Mark. 
By a desert place is meant merely an uninhabited 
region of country, not necessarily a barren dis- 
trict. Luke (9 : 10) identifies the spot as " a 
desert plain belonging to the city called Beth- 
saida," a city on the northern coast of the sea, 
at the point where the river Jordan enters it. 
Observe Christ's recognition of the need of sea- 
sons as well as days or hours of rest. 

45. To so before unto the other side 



(elg to nt^ar) in the direction of Bethsaida 

{nqog (ii]9auidur). According to Luke, the mir- 
acle of the feeding took place in the vicinity of 
Bethsaida (Luke 9 : 10), and according to John (6 : 1), 
on the opposite shore of the sea from Caper- 
naum. Hence it has been conjectured that 
there were two cities called Bethsaida, one the 
well-known place of that name, on the northern 
shore of the sea, to which Luke refers, the other 
a place now extinct, which is supposed to have 
been situated somewhere on the western coast. 
This theory was originated by Reland, and has 
nothing whatever to sustain it but a laudable de- 
sire to reconcile the accounts of the Evangelists, 
which, however, require no such hypothetical 
second city. If the reader will look at the map 
of the Sea of Galilee, which accompanies this 
work (page 342), he will see the site of the true 
Bethsaida at the point where the River Jordan 
enters the Sea of Galilee. East of this, on the 
edge of the sea, is a grassy plain, shut in by the 
mountains to the east and south, which is admi- 
rably adapted to such a miracle as that of the 
feeding of the five thousand, and answers to the 
description of ver. 39 and John 6 : 10. The ship 
which Jesus took in the morning, with the 
twelve, at Capernaum, is properly described as 



Oh. VII.] 



MAEK. 



365 



CHAPTER VII. 

THEN came ■ together unto him the Pharisees, and 
certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. 

2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread 
with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, 
they found fault. 

3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they 



wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition b of 
the elders. 

4 And when they come from the market, except they 
wash, c they eat not. And many other things there be, 
which they have received to hold, as the washing of 
cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. 

5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why 
walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the 
elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands ? 



a Matt. 15:1, etc. . . . b Gal. 1 : 14 ; Col. 2 : 8, 22, 23 c Job 9 : 30, 31. 



going over the Sea of Galilee (john6:i) to "a 
desert place belonging to the city called Beth- 
saida " (Luke9:io), or even, in general terms, as 
going "to Bethsaida," as Alford's reading gives 
it. On the various readings see note on Luke 
9 : 10. When the meal was ended, and the mul- 
titude were dismissed, Christ directs his disci- 
ples to take boat and " go away to the other (i. e., 
the western) side " (ti? representing the final end 
of their journey), in the direction of Bethsaida 
(itQoc representing not the end, but the direc- 
tion), which would lie in their course ; where, 
after the multitude had departed, Christ pur- 
posed to rejoin them. And it is while the disci- 
ples are rowing against the wind, which prevail- 
ingly sweeps down upon the sea, from the 
Lebanon range on the north through the valley 
of the Jordan, that Christ comes on the waves to 
meet them. 

55,56. Comp. Matt. 11 : 31-36, note. Observe 
that the people "besought him that they might 
touch " his garment, an incidental evidence that 
the healing was afforded, not by any magic in 
the garment itself, but by the will of Christ, and 
was so recognized by the people. Comp. notes 
on Mark 5 : 25-34. 



Oh. 7 : \-23. OF EATING WITH UNWASHEN HANDS. 
— Christ's teaching concerning the religion of 
ritualism : ITS WORSHIP IS vain (vers. 6, 7), ITS ORIGIN 
is human (ver. 8), its effect is the displacement of 

THE DIVINE LAW BY HUMAN CEREMONIES (vers. 9-13).— 

Christ's teaching concerning purity: it is inter- 
nal, not external (vers. 14-16.) 

This discourse is recorded only by Mark and 
Matthew (is : 1-20). The former's report is fullest ; 
but the timid remonstrance of the disciples, and 
Christ's reply, are peculiar to Matthew (ch. 15 : 12-14, 
and notes). The time is not certain ; probably the 
summer of A. d. 29 (Andrews), immediately after 
the sermon at Capernaum (John, ci. 6), and during 
the missionary circuit briefly described in Mark 
6 : 55, 56 ; Matt. 14 : 34-36. If so, it was near 
the close of Christ's Galilean ministry. 

1. Coming from Jerusalem. Probably 
sent there, formally or informally, by the Sanhe- 
drim, to investigate the character and mission 
of Christ, as a previous delegation had been 
sent to attend the ministry of John the Baptist. 
See John 1 : 19. 



2-5. And when they saw some of his 
disciples. Not necessarily here any of the 
twelve, but probably that is the meaning. — Eat 
with defiled hands. The word here ren- 
dered defiled, is rendered common in Acts 10 : 
14, 28, and unclean in Rom. 14 : 14. — That is, 
with unwashen hands. Not with dirty 
hands, but with hands which had not been sub- 
jected to the ceremonial process described be- 
low. — They found fault. "The Pharisee 
takes more pleasure in blaming another than 
in amending himself." — (Quesnel.) — For the 
Pharisees and all the Jews, i. e., the Ju- 
deans, the inhabitants of Judea, the southern 
province of the Holy Land, where the influence 
of the ecclesiastics was very considerably greater 
than in Galilee. — Except they wash their 
hands oft. There is some uncertainty as to 
the meaning of the word rendered oft. Some 
critics give the rendering of our English version, 
others, as Alford, render it "sedulously." It 
is, literally, with the fist, and that appears to me 
to be the better rendering. It is, then, a refer- 
ence to the Rabbinical rules, which are said to 
have required the rubbing of the open palm with 
the closed fist.— Eat not, holding fast. Not 
merely holding but holding firmly. See for 
analogous use of the same word, Col. 2 : 19; 
2 Thess. 2 : 15 ; Heb. 4 : 14 ; Rev. 2 : 13 ; 3 : 11. 
And observe, by examining these references, 
what the Christian should hold fast. — The tra- 
dition of the elders. Alford, following Meyer, 
renders this of the ancients, and Hebrews 11 : 1 is 
an evidence that the Greek is capable of this 
meaning. But the original (nQtarivtiQoc), gen- 
erally signifies, in the N. T., a certain class of 
officials, partly ecclesiastical, partly political. 
See Matt. 16 : 21, note. That it is used in this 
ecclesiastical sense here, is indicated by Light- 
foot's quotations from the Rabbinical writings : 
"The words of the elders are weightier than the 
words of the prophets." In fact, their "words " 
were traditions derived from their ancestors, and 
exalted above Scripture, as at a later day the 
traditions of the church were exalted above 
Scripture by the church of Rome. — And com- 
ing from the market except they plunge; 
literally baptize. The Greek word here is not 
the same as that rendered toash in the previous 
verse. Apparently, in the ritual of the Pharisees, 



366 



MAEK. 



[Ch. VII. 



6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias 
prophesied" 1 of you hypocrites, as it is written, This 
people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is 
tar from me. 

7 Howbeit, in vain do they worship me, teaching for 
doctrines the commandments of men. 



8 For laying e aside the commandment of God, ye 
hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and 
cups : and many other such like things ye do. 

9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the 
commandment of God, that ye may keep your own 
tradition. 



d Isa. 29 : 13 e lea. 1 : 12. 



washing by the pouring on of water sufficed for 
those who remained at home, while the immer- 
sion of the hands in water was required for those 
who had gone abroad. It was the hands, not 
the whole body, nor the article brought from 
market, that was required to be washed. — And 
many other things there be which they 
have received to hold, as the washing 
(literally, baptizing) of cups and pots (or meas- 
ures) and "brazen vessels, wooden ones were 
to be broken if unclean (Lev. 15 : is), and couches ; 
not tables, but the couches on which the guests 

reclined at the meal. (See Matt. 26 : 20, note and illustration.) 

It is hardly credible that these lounges were im- 
mersed ; we have, therefore, here an evidence 
that the Greek word rendered in the N. T. bap- 
tism or baptize, does not in the N. T. usage 
always signify immersion. The ceremonial clean- 
sing of the furniture in the room was probably 
done by sprinkling ; while that of the person 
appears to have been done by immersion. — Why 
walk not thy disciples according to the 
traditions of the elders ? — The common ques- 
tion of ecclesiasticism in all ages, which makes 
the traditions of the church, not the law of God, 
the standard of life. 
The law of Moses required ceremonial wash- 




MODEKN HAND-WASHING. 

ings : (1) of certain sacred persons, as the priests 

at their consecration (Exod. 40 : 12; Lev. 8:6; comp. Num. 



8 : 5-7, 21), and habitually before sacrificing (Emd. 

30:18-21; 40:30-32; Lev. 16 : 4, 2l) ; (2) Of all the peo- 
ple on certain special occasions, as the leper on 
being pronounced clean of his leprosy (Lev. 14 : 8, 9), 
the man with an issue, etc. (Lev. 15 : 5, 6, etc.) ; (3) 
as a testimony to innocence (Deut. 21 : 1-9). Analo- 
gous to the first of these is the modern practice 
by the priests in the Romish and Greek churches 
of washing the hands immediately before cele- 
brating mass ; analogous to the second is the use 
of holy water by all the worshippers. The Mo- 
hammedan still washes five times a day that he 
may approach God acceptably in prayer. Our 
illustration, which is taken from actual life, 
shows the practice as it is scrupulously observed 
to the present day in Palestine. It is evident 
that the Jewish requirements were partly sani- 
tary ; this is clearly the case with certain of the 
requirements in Lev. ch. 15 ; but they were partly 
ceremonial. The Pharisees converted the Mosaic 
ablutions into an elaborate and burdensome 
ritual. They never entered their houses without 
washing, lest they should have unknowingly 
contracted defilement in the streets ; and as the 
hands were held to communicate uncleanness 
to the food, they never ate without a previous 
ceremonial washing of the hands. This was 
required to be done in a prescribed manner, by 
plunging them three times up to the wrists, in 
running water, which was fresh, and had done 
no work. Whether water was ceremonially fresh 
which had been kept so by the intermixture of 
vinegar or lemon-juice, whether it had done no 
work if in it fish had been bred or eggs boiled, — 
these were serious theological problems. Such 
a ceremonialism was not regarded by the com- 
mon people, who were content simply to wash 
their hands for the purpose of actual cleanli- 
ness, before meals. The scribes condemned the 
disciples, not for eating literally with unwashen 
hands, but with hands which had not been 
ceremonially washed, and this only as a means of 
condemning Christ, who, as a religious teacher, 
was expected to require the ritualism of his 
day from his immediate followers. " Their 
wonder was that Jesus had not inculcated this 
observance on his followers, and not, as some 
have fancied, that he had enjoined them to 
neglect what had been their previous practice." 
— (Kitto.) 
6. Esaias. Isaiah 29 : 13. Observe the rest 



Oh. VII.] 



MAKK. 



36? 



10 For Moses said, Honour' thy father and thy 
mother ; and, Whoso curseths father or mother, let him 
die the death. 

ii But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or 
mother, // is Corban, h that is to say, a gift, by whatso- 
ever thou mightest be profited by me ; lie shall be free. 

12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his 
father or his mother ; 

13 Making the word of God of none effect through 



your tradition, which ye have delivered : and many 
such like things do ye. 

14 And when he had called all the people unto him, 
he said unto them, Hearken unto me, every one of you, 
and understand : ' 

15 There is nothing from without a man that, enter- 
ing into him, can defile him : but the things which come 
out of him, those are they that defile the man. 

16 If any J man have ears to hear, let him hear. 



f Exod. 20 : 12 ; Deut. 5 : 16. 



.% Exod. 21 : 17; Lev. 20 : 9 ; Prov. 20 : 20. 
8 : 30 j Matt. 11 



...h Matt. 15 : 5; 

: 15. 



.i Prov. 8:5: Isa. 6:9: Acts 



of the prophet's description of the formalists : 
" Their fear toward me is taught by the precept 
of men." 

7-9. In vain do they worship me. Comp. 
Isaiah 1 : 10-15. — Teaching as doctrines the 
commandments of men. Not for, i. e., in lieu 
of doctrines, but teaching doctrines which are of 
human origin. — For laying aside the com- 
mandment of God ; this the rigorous ceremo- 
nialist generally does ; ye hold fast the tradi- 
tions of men, literally, the things given by men. 
That is, a tradition of men which is handed down 
from father to son, is traceable only to a human 
author, yet is cited by the ecclesiastic as an 
authority, as though it came from God. — Excel- 
lently well. The language is that of bitter 
sarcasm. — Ye displace the commandment 
of God, that ye may observe the traditions 
of men. Literally, keep close watch over ; comp. 
Matt. 19 : 17, note, latter clause. On the whole 
passage, comp. Matt. 23 : 16-19 ; and Col. 2 : 18-23, 
and observe here, (1) the nature of that which 
Christ reprobates, the employment as an au- 
thority in religion of systems of doctrine, ethics 
or ritual, which are of human origin, a radical 
vice, whether the system be a Protestant creed, 
a Romish ritual, or a Jewish ceremonial ; (2) the 
folly of all religion founded on such human au- 
thority ; " In vain do they worship me," because 
it substitutes allegiance to man for allegiance to 
God ; (3) the effect of it, the displacement of 
the divine laws which concern the heart-life, by 
human rules, which require only external con- 
duct. An unconscious desire to be rid of God's 
spiritual law is the true secret of all additions to 
the simple religion of the Bible. What follows 
is an illustration taken from Jewish casuistry, 
of the nature and effect of this substitution of 
human for divine authority. 

10-12. For Moses said. In Matthew (is : 4), 
it is, "For God commanded." "A remarkable 
testimony from our Lord to the divine origin of 
the Mosaic law ; not merely of the Decalogue as 
such, for the second commandment quoted is not 
in the Decalogue." — (Alford.) — Honor thy 
father and mother. See Exod. 20 : 12 ; Deut. 
5 : 16. — And whoso cnrseth father or mother 
let him die the death, i. e., let him be put to 
death, literally, Let him end in death. The quo- 



tation is from Exod. 21 : 17 ; Lev. 20 : 9.— But 
ye say. The quotation which follows is from 
the Rabbinical rules. There are two difficulties 
in its interpretation : (1) Its grammatical con- 
struction ; (2) the uncertainty respecting the law 
to which it refers. As to its grammatical con- 
struction, our translators have undoubtedly 
given the sense correctly, but the addition of the 
words he shall be free is not grammatically neces- 
sary, though sanctioned by some of the critics. 
The true meaning of the passage may be thus 
rendered, If a man shall say to his father or 
mother, That by which thou mightest be profited by 
me is corban (that is, a gift, consecrated to God), 
ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or 
mother. So in the parallel passage in Matt. 15 : 
5, 6, the verb honor not his father or his mother 
is, according to the best readings, in the future, 
and the passage reads, " Whosoever shall say to 
his father or his mother, That by which thou might- 
est have been profited by me is a gift, he shall not 
honor his father or his mother. " For different 
grammatical readings, see Schaff 's Note on Matt. 
15 : 5, 6, in Lange on Matthew. As to the Rabbini- 
cal law to which it refers, the facts appear to have 
been as follows. The Mosaic law laid down 
rules for vows both affirmative and negative. 
By the former, persons, animals, and property 
might be devoted to God ; by the latter, persons 
interdicted themselves, or were interdicted by 
their parents, from the use of certain things, 
either temporarily or permanently (Lev. ch. 2? ; 

Num. ch. 30 : Judges 13 : 7 ; Acts 18 : 18 ; 21 : 23, 24). On 

these rules the rabbis enlarged, and laid down 
that a man might not only interdict himself 
from using for himself, but also from giving to 
another anything. The thing thus interdicted 
was considered as corban, that is, as consecrated 
to God, yet the person making the vow might 
use it for himself ; his vow only bound him not 
to give it to the other. So far was this doctrine 
carried, that the contemptuous or angry use of 
the language of a vcw was held to exempt the 
person making it from his obligations of assist- 
ance, so that a child, on being applied to for aid 
by his parents, might even contemptuously re- 
ply, Let it be corban whatever of mine might 
profit you, and this simple expression freed him 
from the filial obligation of supporting his par- 



368 



MAEK. 



[Ch. VII. 



17 And when k he was entered into the house from 
the people, his disciples asked him concerning the par- 
able. 

18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without under- 
standing also ? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever 
thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot de- 
file him ; 

19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but 1 into 
the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all 
meats ? 

20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, 
that defileth the man. 

21 For from" 1 within, out of the heart of men, pro- 
ceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 

22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lascivi- 
ousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness : 

23 All these evil things come from within, and defile 
the man. 

24 And from" thence he arose, and went into the 
borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into an house, 
and would have no man know it: but he could not 
be hid. 



25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had 
an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at 
his feet : 

26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by na- 
tion ; and she besought him that he would cast forth 
the devil out of her daughter. 

27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be 
filled : for p it is not meet to take the children's bread, 
and to cast it unto the dogs. 

28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord : 
yet thei dogs under the table eat of the children's 
crumbs. 

29 And he said unto her, For r this saying go thy 
way ; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. 

30 And when she was come to her house, she found 
the devil gone s out, and her daughter laid upon the bed. 

31 And again,' departing from the coasts of Tyre and 
Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the 
midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 

32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and 
had an impediment in his speech ; and they beseech 
him to put nis hand upon him. 



k Matt. 15 : 15, etc....l 1 Cor. ti : 13. . . .m Gen. 6 : 5 ; Ps. 14 : 1, 3 ; 53 : 1, 3 ; Jer. 17 :9....n Matt. 15 : 21, etc....o ch. 2:1.... 
p Matt. 7:6; 10 : 6, 6....q Rom. 15 : 8, 9: Ephe3. 2 : 12-14 r Isa. 66 : 2....S 1 John 3:8 t Matt. 15 : 29, etc. 



ents. Such casuistry would be incredible were 
not its parallel to be found in the Jesuitical casu- 
istry of the seventeenth century. 

13. Making the word of Ciod of none 
effect through your traditions. The con- 
ference began by an accusation of illegal teach- 
ing, brought by the scribes against Christ ; it 
ends with an accusation of illegal teaching, 
brought by Christ against the scribes. 

14, 15. And when he had called all the 
people. The previous conference was with the 
scribes who had come up from Jerusalem for the 
purpose of confounding Christ (ver. i ; Matt. 15 : 1). 
The teaching that follows was public. — There is 
nothing from without a man that entering 
in can defile him; but, etc. This verse is to 
be interpreted by the subject-matter and by verses 
18 and 19. Nothing that is and remains external 
to man, and enters only into his body, not into 
his heart to become a part of his character, can 
defile. The Pharisees feared defilement from 
their food ; it is of this defilement our Lord 
speaks. Comp. Matt. 15 : 11. " Not that which 
goeth into the mouth." But underlying this is 
the deeper truth, that nothing which is external 
to character can defile the soul, so long as it re- 
mains external, does not become incorporated in 
the character. Evidently this verse is only a 
brief epitome of a considerable discourse. 

16. See Matt, 11 : 15, note. 

17-19. His disciples asked him. By dis- 
ciples is here meant, probably, the twelve. Ac- 
cording to Matthew, Peter was the spokesman. — 
Without understanding, i. e., without spirit- 
ual appreciation of the truth.— Because itenter- 
eth not into his heart. That which is from 
without and does enter the heart can defile a man. 
— Goeth out into the draught, cleansing 
all the food. Whatever food the body needs it 



assimilates, and whatever it needs is not unclean 
nor defiling. Whatever it does not need, it, by a 
natural process, rejects from the system. Thus 
nature provides for its own purification, and the 
laws of health are the only laws of cleanness and 
uncleanness which the Christian need recognize. 
In this declaration is the germ of the doctrine 
which Paul subsequently expounded more fully 

(Rom. 14 : 2, 3, 14 5 1 Cor. ch. 8). 

20-23. Observe in these verses, (1) that the 
defilement which Christ recognizes is one of the 
soul, and consists, therefore, of something in 
the heart, not foreign to it ; (2) that all the vices 
here catalogued and described as evil thoughts, 
the evil even of adultery, murder and theft, lie 
primarily and chiefly in the thought, only second- 
arily in the outward act and its visible effects ; 
(3) that Christ refutes the idea, sometimes ex- 
pressed, that if there is evil in a man he had 
better let it out in expression rather than keep it 
in ; our Lord declares that the coming out itself 
defiles. The "evil eye "is not merely, as Lange, 
an "envious eye," but an eye which is apt, in 
any form, to evil, the eye here standing for the 
desires which look through it and are inflamed 
by it. Comp. Prov. 28 : 22 ; Matt. 6 : 22, 23 ; 
18 : 9 ; 20 : 15 ; 1 John 2 : 16. 

23. To this verse Matthew makesthe significant 
addition: "But to eat with unwashen hands," 
i. e., with hands not subjected to a ceremonial 
washing, " defileth not a man." 

24-30. The Sykopikenictan woman. Pecu- 
liar to Matthew (15 : 21-28) and Mark. See notes on 
Matthew, whose account is fullest. Observe in 
verse 24 here the incidental evidence of Christ's 
extended fame and wide popularity among the 
common people. 

Ch. 7 : 31-37. HEALING OP THE DEAF AND DUMB — 
Christ's mission: to give power to receive and 



Ch. VII] 



MAKE. 



369 



33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put 
his ringers into his ears, and he u spit, and touched his 
tongue ; 

34 And looking' up to heaven, he™ sighed, and saith 
unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 

35 And straightway* his ears were opened, and the 
string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 



36 And he charged them that they should tell no 
man : but the more he charged them, so much the 
more a great deal they published it ; 

37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying,* 
He hath done all things well : he maketh z both the 
deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. 



u ch. 8 : 03; John 9 : 6 v ch. 6:41 ; John 11 :41; 17; 



I... w John 11 : 33, I 
3 Exod. 4: 10, 11. 



..-I Mutt. 8 : 3, 15 y Ps. 139: 14: Acta 14: 11... 



POWER TO PROCLAIM THE TKTJTH. — AN ILLUSTRATION 
OF HIS METHOD OF AWAKENING FAITH IN THOSE BE- 
YOND THE REACH OF HIS SPOKEN WORD. 

Peculiar to Mark. It is one of the miracles 
described in general terms by Matt. 15 : 30, 31. 
The chronological order is the same in both Gos- 
pels; the miracle belongs to Christ's period of 
retirement, subsequent to the close of his public 
ministry in Galilee, and before his going up to 
Jerusalem, i. e., between John, chaps. 6 and 7. 

31. Tyre and Sidon. See Matt. 11 : 21, 
note. — He came through the midst of the 
territory of Decapolis. Matt. 4 : 25, note. 
Probably Christ made a detour round the north- 
ern shore of the Lake of Galilee (see map, p. 340), 
coming thus into the region of the sea, but still 
keeping in retirement by remaining in heathen 
territory. That the word here rendered coast is 
equivalent to territory see Matt. 2 : 16 ; 4 : 13 ; 
8 : 34, etc. — They bring unto him, i. e., the 
people bring; one that was deaf and had 
an impediment in his speech. Literally, a 
dumb stammerer. That he. could speak, but not 
plainly, is indicated by the effect of his cure, 
"he could speak plain " (ver. 35). 

33, 34. He took him aside. As he did 
subsequently the blind man (ch. s : 23), because he 
was seeking retirement with his disciples, and 
wished to avoid publicity. The indications that 
his public ministry in Galilee was at an end, and 
that he sought retirement with his apostles for 
rest and private instruction, are repeated con- 
tinually in this portion of his life. See ver. 24, 
ch. 8 : 27 and Matt. 15 : 29-39, note, p. 195, and 
ref. there. But Trench's remark on our Lord's 
course here is suggestive. "The Lord does now 
oftentimes lead a soul apart, sets it in the soli- 
tude of a sick-chamber, or in loneliness of spirit, 
or takes away from it earthly companions and 
friends, when he would speak with it and heal 
it." — And put his fingers into his ears, and 
having spit, i. e., probably, touched his finger 
with spittle, he touched his tongue, i. e., the 
dumb man's tongue. I can only understand this 
by supposing it was a chosen means of communi- 
cating with the dumb man, and by sympathy 
through the touch awakening his faith. For all 
other media of communication were closed ex- 
cept that of touch, unless we suppose the man 
able to read writing and Christ provided with 
implements of writing, neither of which is prob- 



able. It was an appeal to the man's trust, like 
that made in other cases by a word, and re- 
quired of the man at least a tacit obedience, as a 
requisite to the cure. — And sighed. Possibly 
this expresses the idea of an inarticulate prayer, 
as Robinson interprets it (Bob. Lex., ayivu'Zui) ; 
more probably it is an expression of Christ's 
deep-felt sympathy with the suffering of sin- 
stricken humanity, as in the parallel case at the 
resurrection of Lazarus (John 11 : 33-35). — And said 
unto him, Ephphatha. An Aramaic expres- 
sion. See note on Mark 5 : 41. 

35. And straightway. Immediately. — 
His hearing, not his ears ; the word is differ- 
ent from that rendered ears in verse 33 (it is 
dzoi'i, not oiic), and the language implies a deep- 
seated difficulty. — AVas opened ; and the 
string of his tongue, the hinderance, whatever 
it was, which before prevented his speaking 
plainly. — "Was loosed. Evidently the imper- 
fection in utterance was not merely a conse- 
quence of loss of hearing, but there was a physi- 
cal difficulty with the organs of speech. — And 
he spake plain . Impliedly, both here and in 
verse 32, he could speak before, but not so as to 
be easily understood. 

36. Comp. Matt. 8 : 4, note. Here there was 
special reason for the prohibition in that Christ 
was seeking to avoid the public and to secure 
quiet conference with his apostles. See verse 
33, note. 

37. He hath done all things well. Comp. 
Gen. 1 : 31. " This work was properly and wor- 
thily compared with that first one of creation — it 
was the same Beneficence which prompted and 
the same Power that wrought it." — (Alford.) — 
He maketh hoth the deaf to hear and the 
dumb to speak. Spiritually this characterizes 
Christ's ministry, for still he opens the ears of 
those deaf to spiritual truth, so that hearing they 
hear and do understand, and unstops the tongue 
of silent disciples, and teaches them to speak his 
praise. Comp. Isaiah 35 : 5 ; Matt. 13 : 16. See 
also 1 Cor. 2 : 10, 14-16. 

Ch. 8 : 1-10. The Feeding of the Four 
Thousand. This miracle is recounted only here 
and in Matt. 15 : 32-38. It is not to be confounded 
with the feeding of the five thousand, described 
by all four Evangelists (Matt. 14 : 13-21 ; Mark 6 .- 32-44 ; 
Lake 9 : 10-17: John 6 : i-u). "Every circumstance 
which can vary, does vary, in the two accounts. 



370 



MAEK. 



[Oh. VIIL 



CHAPTER VIII. 

IN those a days the multitude being very great, and 
having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto 
him, and saith unto them, 

z I have compassion " on the multitude, because they 
have now been with me three days, and have nothing 
to eat : 



3 And if I send them away fasting to their own 
houses, they will faint by the way : for divers of them 
came from far. 

4 And his disciples answered him, From whence 
can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wil- 
derness ? 

5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? 
And they said, Seven. 



a Matt. 15 : 32, etc b Ps. 145 : 8, 15 ; Heb. 5:2 c ch. 6 : 36, 37, etc. 



The situation In the wilderness, the kind of food 
at hand, the blessing and breaking and distribut- 
ing by means of the disciples, these are common 
to the two accounts, and were likely to be so ; 
but here the matter is introduced by the Lord 
himself, with an expression of pity for the mul- 
titude who had continued with him three days ; 
here, also, the provision is greater, the numbers 
are less than on the former occasion." — (Alford.) 
What is conclusive on this question, however, is 
our Lord's reference to both miracles (Matt. 16 : 9, io), 
which, as Alford justly says, "must have been 
forged if the two are identical;" and his dis- 
crimination there between the traveling baskets 
employed on the one occasion, and the grain 
baskets on the other, — a discrimination which 
tallies exactly with the language of the two 
narratives. In all four accounts of the first mir- 
acle the baskets used in gathering tip the frag- 
ments are designated in the original by the word 
eophinus (xutptvog), "traveling basket," while in 
both the Evangelists the baskets used on the 
occasion of the feeding of the four thousand are 
designated by the word sporta (o/tvylg), grain 
basket. This distinction is recognized by Christ 
in his subsequent recall of the two miracles. 
See Matt. 16 : 9, 10, note, where illustrations of 
the two kinds of baskets are given. Unfortu- 
nately, there is nothing in our English version to 
indicate this difference. The only reason for 
imagining the two miracles to be identical, is the 
seemingly singular fact that the disciples, after 
witnessing the feeding of the five thousand, 
should be perplexed what to do for the provision 
of the four thousand. But, (1) the disciples did 
not on this occasion, as on the other, propose to 
send the people away (Matt. 14 : 15), though now 
three and then but one day had passed ; they 
waited for Christ to do as he would ; (2) their 
question here (ver. 4) hardly indicates a doubt ; it 
is elicited by Christ's previous question, and is 
such as they might readily have proposed, if 
they wished merely to leave all to Christ without 
suggesting, as they never did throughout all his 
ministry, the performance of a miracle ; (3) 
even if the facts showed a failure to believe and 
trust in divine power, similar instances are 
common in Scripture history, and, unhappily, 
not rare in the Christian experience of the disci- 
ples of to-day. Comp. Exod. 16 : 13 with Numb. 



11 : 21, 22, and Exod. 17 : 1-7, following the 
passage of Israel through the middle of the Red 
Sea. With the account of this miracle should 
be carefully compared that of the feeding of the 
five thousand. The spiritual significance of the 
two is the same ; and for that the reader is re- 
ferred to the notes on John, ch. 6, especially 
verses 1-14. 

1,2. In those days. The time is apparently 
during Christ's period of retirement, after his 
withdrawal from Galilee as indicated by Matt. 
15 : 21 ; the place, the high table-land east of the 
Sea of Galilee (Matt. 15 : 29 with Mark 7 : 31), in the terri- 
tory of Decapblis, which was occupied largely by 
a Roman population. This ministry of feeding 
does not then belong properly to Christ's Galilean 
ministry. The former feeding was on the nor- 
thern coast of the Sea of Galilee, among the Jews ; 
this one was among the heathen. — Nothing 
to eat. Not to be taken literally ; for this would 
imply, either a three-days' fast, or a singularly 
improvident consumption of their provisions. 
They had with them no adequate supply for their 
wants. In the East, meat is used much less 
than with us. Milk, fruits, and various prepara- 
tions of bread are staple articles of diet. Three 
days' sojourn in the wilderness would not, there- 
fore, require with them so great preparation as 
with us. And the wilderness (ver. 4) was not a 
true desert, but a country district, remote from 
towns, and consequently from habitations, since, 
on account of wild beasts and robbers, the people 
lived almost wholly in towns and villages. 

3-5. From afar. Comp Matt. 4 : 25, note. 
— Bread — Loaves. The bread of the East is 
baked in thin round cakes or sheets, like our 
crackers in form. They were often baked by 
spreading the dough, when prepared, on stones 
previously heated, or throwing it on to the heated 
embers itself, or placing it between layers of 
dung, which burns slowly, and is therefore es- 
pecially adapted to the purpose. Dr. Robinson 
(Biblical Researches, II, 496) describes such a 
baking : " They had brought along some flour, or 
rather meal, of wheat and barley filled with chaff, 
of which they now kneaded a round, flat cake 
of some thickness. This they threw into the 
ashes and coals of a fire they had kindled, and 
after due time brought out a loaf of bread as 
black on the outside as the coals themselves, and 



Oh. VIII.] 



MARK. 



371 



6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the 
ground : and he took the seven loaves, and gave thanks, 
and brake, and gave to his disciples to set before them ; 
and they did set them before the people. 

7 And they had a few small fishes : and he blessed, 11 
and commanded to set them also before them. 



8 So they did eat, and were e filled: and they' took 
up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets. 

9 And they that had eaten were about tour thousand : 
and he sent them away. 

io And straightway e he entered into a ship with his 
disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanucha. 



d Matt. 14 : 19 e Ps. 107 : 5, 6 ; 145 : 16 f 1 Kings 17 : 14-16 ; 2 Kings 4 : 2-7, 42-44 g Matt. 15 : 39. 



not much whiter within." Comp. note on John 
: 9. The accompanying illustration represents 
some loaves as they were discovered in a baker's 
shop at Pompeii ; they are about eight inches in 
diameter, and in shape and size resemble those 




LOAVES OF BREAD. 

then in use among the Jews. Besides the loaves 
the disciples had "a few small fishes 1 ' (verse?). 
Fish, both fresh and salt, appear to have been a 
c amnion article of food, especially about the 
Sea of Galilee. 

6-9. Gave thanks and 
brake. Christ's practice 
of giving thanks before 

meal (comp. 6 : 41 ; 14 : 22 ; Luke 

2i : 30) is a precedent for 
the modern custom of 
asking a blessing at meal 
time. — And gave to his 
disciples to set before 
them. A symbol of the 
truth that only as Christ's 
ministers receive the truth 
from Christ can they dis- 
tribute the truth to the 
people. For Christ, by his 
sermon after the previous 
feeding (John, en. e), makes of 
the miracle an enacted 
parable. — So they diJ 
eat and were filled, 
i. e., satisfied. Observe 
the simplicity of the nar- 
rative ; seven loaves and a 
few small fishes blessed by 
Christ, and four thousand 
people adequately fed by 
them--of these two facts 
the narrators are sure, for 
they were eye-witnesses ; 
the reader is left to draw 
his own conclusions. — 

— Seven baskets. See Prel. Note above, and 

note on Matt, 18 : 9, 10, for illustration of baskets. 

10. Into the parts of Da'manutha. Matt. 



15 : 39 says Magdala, or, according to the better 
reading, Magadan. The exact location is uncer- 
tain ; it appears from the narrative to have been 
on the western coast of the sea, though it is not 
necessarily implied that Jesus crossed the sea. 
Both Matthew (15 : 39) and Mark here use indefinite 
language, one saying he " came into the coasts of 
Magdala," the other that he came "into the parts 
of Dalmanutha." He may therefore have landed 
at a point near two towns which were adjacent ; 
and this is the ordinary view. The map, p. 342, 
shows the general location. Dr. Howard Crosby, 
however, has suggested the not improbable con- 
jecture that the two may be identified. A private 
note to me thus states this conjecture : " One of 
the Levitical cities of Naphtali was Kartan (josh. 
21 : 32), apparently in the southern part of Naph- 




TOWEP. OF TIBERIAS. 

tali. Kartan is not mentioned in Josh. 19 : 35-38, 
as so prominent a Levitical city would naturally 
be. The other Levitical cities, Kedesh and 



372 



MARK. 



[Oh. VIII. 



ii And the Pharisees' 1 came forth, and began to 
question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, 
tempting him. 

12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why 
doth this generation seek after a sign ? verily I say unto 
you, There shall no sign be given unto this genera- 
tion. 

13 And he left them, and entering into the ship again 
departed to the other side. 

14 Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, 
neither had they in the ship with them more than one 
loaf. 

15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, be- 
ware ' of the leaven > of the Pharisees, and of the leaven 
of Herod. 

16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It 
is because we have no bread. 

17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, 
Why reason ye, because ye have no bread ? perceive k 
ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart 1 
yet hardened ? 



18 Having eyes," 1 see ye not ? and having ears, hear 
ye not ? and do ye not remember ? " 

19 When I brake the five loaves" among five thou- 
sand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up ? 
They say unto him, Twelve. 

20 And when the seven? among four thousand, how 
many baskets full of fragments took ye up ? And they 
said, Seven. 

21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not 
understand ? 

22 And he cometh to Bethsaida : and they bring a 
blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.i 

23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led 
him out of the town; and when he had spif on his 
eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he 
saw ought. 

24 And he looked up, and said, I ■ see men as trees, 
walking. 

25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, 
and made him look up : and he was restored, and saw ' 
every man clearly. 



h Matt. 12 : 38 ; 16 : 1, etc. ; John 6 : 30. ...i Prov. 19 : 27 ; Luke 12 : I....1 


Exod. 12 : 20 ; Lev. 2:11; 1 Cor. 5:6-8 k ch. 6 


52.... 


! .-h. 3:5; 16 : 14 m Isn. 44 : 18 n 2 Pet. 1 : 12.... ch. 6 : 38, 44 


Matt. 14 : 17-21 ; Luke 9 : 12-17 ; John 6 : 5-13... 


.p ver 


1-9; Mutt. 15 : 34-38.... q Isa. 35 : 5, 6 ; Matt. 11 : 5....r ch. 7 : 33....! 


Judges 9 : 36; Isa. 29 : 18 ; 1 Cor. 13 : 11, 12.... 


t Prov. 


4 : 18 ; Isa. 32 : 3 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 9. 







Hammath, are. Migdal-el (josh. 19 : 3s) I there- 
fore conjecture to be Kartan. If so, it would be 
naturally called Migdal-Manutha {Hebrew, Mig- 
dal-Menath), 'tower of the portion,' i. e., the 
Levitical portion." From this compound name 
might easily come the two names Magdala and 
Dalmanutha, the former being the original name, 
Migdal-el ; the latter, an abbreviation of the ful- 
ler name Migdal-Manutha. It is true that the 
supposed site of Magdala is a little south of the 
supposed boundary of Naphtali ; but neither can 
be fixed with sufficient certainty to make this 
conclusive. It would appear not improbable 
that sites often received their name, as in the 
case of Magdala, from a tower in connection with 
them. The accompanying cut shows the ruins 
of an ancient tower at Tiberias. The reader is 
looking north ; before him is the Sea of Galilee ; 
Mt. Hermon is in the distance ; to the left, hid- 
den behind the town, is the site of Magdala or 
Dalmanutha, which means lower. 

11-13. Request of a Sign from Heaven. 
See notes on Matt. 10 : 1-4. The statement here, 
"He sighed deeply in his spirit," is peculiar to 
Mark, and is a touching testimony to the pity of 
Christ, which embraced even such captious and 
cavilling spirits as these Pharisees. His depart- 
ure again so soon to the eastern shore of the lake 
is one of the many indications that he considered 
his public ministry ended, and was seeking re- 
tirement. See Matt. 15 : 29-39, note. 

14-21. Warning against the Leaven op 
the Pharisees and of Herod. Matt. 16 : 5-13, 
notes. There are some graphic touches here not 
in Matthew, as the statement that they had but 
one loaf (ver. 14), the additional reproof (ver. is), 
and the reference to the two miracles of feeding, 
given here more at length (ver. 19-21). According 
to Matthew, Christ's warning was against the 
leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 



Matthew adds the disciples' understanding of 
Christ's admonition (Matt. 16 : 12). 

Ch. 8 : 22-2(>. CUKE OF A BLIND MAN.— Grace is 

SOMETIMES GRADUAL. 

This miracle is recorded only by Mark. It is 
peculiar in that it represents, more distinctly 
than any other miracle, a gradual cure, and its 
successive stages. There is no reason to doubt 
that the chronology is correctly indicated by 
Mark, i. e., that it occurred after the close of 
Christ's public Galilean ministry, and during his 
period of retirement. 

22. And they came to Bethsaida. This 
is the better reading. Bethsaida was a town on 
the northern shore of the sea of Galilee, at the 
entrance of the river Jordan into the lake. See 
Mark : 45, note. — And they bring a blind 
man unto him. The people, not the disciples, 
brought him. 

23. And taking the hand of the blind 
man, he led him out of the town. Rather, 
village {xiifiri). Bethsaida {house offish) was ori- 
ginally a fishing village. The tetrarch Philip 
enlarged it, raised it to the dignity of a town, 
and gave it the name of Julias. This part of the 
town was on the eastern bank of the Jordan, the 
original fishing hamlet was on the western bank. 
The language here implies that Christ was in the 
fisherman's part of the town, the unwalled vil- 
lage. Observe that Christ personally leads the 
blind man, a mark of tenderness and condescen- 
sion, and that the blind man entrusts himself, 
apparently unquestioningly, to the leading of this 
stranger, a mark of his confidence in Christ, and 
a touching illustration of that peculiar attractive 
power which Christ exercised over all men by 
his personal presence. — And when he had spit 
on his eyes. Spittle was regarded as medicinal 
by the ancients. Why Christ used it here is not 



Ch. IX.] 



MAEK. 



373 



26 And he sent him away to his house, saying, Nei- 
ther go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town. 

27 And Jesus" went out, and his disciples, into the 
towns of Caesarea Philippi : and by the way he asked 
his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that 
I am? 

28 And they answered, John v the Baptist : but some 
say, Elias ■ and others, One of the prophets. 

29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I 
am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou™ 
art the Christ. 

30 And he charged them that they should tell no man 
of him. 

31 And he began to teach them, that the Son of man 
must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, 
and <7ythe chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and 
after three days rise again. 

32 And he spake that saying openly. And Peter 
took him, and began to rebuke him. 

33 But vs hen he had turned about and looked on his 
disciples, he rebuked x Peter, saying. Get thee behind 
me, Satan : 1 for thou savourest not the 
of God, but the things that be of men. 



things that be 



34 And when he had called the people unto him with 
his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever 2 will 
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 
cross, and follow me. 

35 For a whosoever will save his life shall lose it ; but 
whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gos- 
pel's, the same shall save it. 

36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the 
whole world, and lose his own soul ? 

37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ? 

38 Whosoever" therefore shall be ashamed of me, 
and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful genera- 
tion, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when 
he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy 
angels. 

CHAPTER IX. 

AND he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, 
That there be some of them that stand here, which 
shall not d taste of death, till they have seen the king- 
dom of God come with power. 
2 And " after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, 



u Molt. 16 : 13, etc. ; Luke 9 : 18, etc v Matt. 14 : 2 w John 1 : 41-19 ; 6 : 69 ; 11 : 27 ; Acts 8 : 37 ; 1 John 6 : 1. 

i Matt. 10 : 38 ; 16 : 24 ; Luke 9 : 23 ; 14 : 27 ; Titus 2 : 12. .. .a Esther 4 : 14 ; Matt. 10 : 39 
~ . 2 : 10 " 



....y 1 V.or. •> : C-....Z miiLL ivj . lo ; *•* , ajiiivc a . vo ; ii i ii ; jliius 

9 : 24 ; 17 : 33 ; John 12 : 25 j 2 Tim. 2 : 11 ; 4 : 6, 8 ; Rev. 2 : 10 ; 7 : 14-1 
9 : 27. ...d John 8 : 52 ; Heb. 2 : 9 e Matt. 17 : 1, etc. ; Luke 9 : 28, etc. 



14-17.... b Luke 12 : 9 : 2 Tim. 



x Rev. 3 : 19. 

, _6 : 25 ; Luko 
8 c Matt. 16 : 28; Luke 



clear. Perhaps as the readiest means of strength- 
ening the faith of the blind man (see Mark 7 : 33, 
34, note) ; perhaps (this I am inclined to think the 
true explanation) to make as little impression 
with the miracle as possible, because he was 
now seeking retirement, and wished to avoid the 
throng and publicity which miracles always 
brought upon him. 

24, 25. And he looked up. In order to 
make a trial of his eyes. — And said, I see 
men ; for (things) like trees I see, walking. 
This is the literal rendering of the Sinaitic, Alex- 
andrine, and Vatican MSS., and is adopted by 
Lachmann, Tregelles, Tischendorf, and Alford. 
The meaning appears to be this : I see men ; for, 
though what I see resemble trees, they cannot 
be so, for they are walking about. The very 
vagueness of the language pictures forcibly the 
groping of one through an uncertain vision tow- 
ard the truth. To a blind man, who knew trees 
only by feeling, that is, only knew the trunks, 
men might well seem like trees, except for their 
motion. — Then again he put his hands 
upon his eyes; and he saw discriminat- 
ingly, and was thoroughly restored, and 
saw all things plainly. There is some un- 
certainty as to the reading here. That which I 
have given is adopted by Alford, Tischendorf, 
and Tregelles. The meaning is that the blind 
man was at once able to distinguish objects, and 
being perfectly restored, thereafter saw all things 
clearly. 

26. The double prohibition of this verse has 
given the commentators needless perplexity. 
How, they have asked, could he tell any man in 
the town if he did not go into it ? The prohibi- 
tion is simply emphatic. The reason is Christ's 
desire to preserve his retirement. His public 
ministry in Galilee is ended. 



Those who believe, as I do, that the ministry 
of Christ's healing is a symbol of his redemption, 
will easily trace the spiritual lessons in this mir- 
acle. He who in his blindness consents to be led, 
in the dark, by Christ, is led toward the light. 
His sight may come to him gradually ; if so he is 
not to be discouraged ; nor are those that see 
clearly to be impatient at the delay. The end of 
Christ's ministry of grace is that the blind not 
only see, but see with discrimination, and clearly. 

27-30. Petek's Confession. Matt, 16 : 
13-20 ; Luke 9 : 18-21. Caesarea Philippi was in 
Northern Palestine, and a heathen town. It 
would appear as though Christ were finally 
driven out of Galilee in his endeavor to obtain a 
season of repose for the confidential instruction 
of his apostles. The chronology is as given here. 
It is the same in Matthew and Luke. Luke says 
this colloquy took place when Christ and his dis- 
ciples were alone and he was praying. Matthew 
adds to the account here a blessing promised by 
Christ on Peter for his faith. With this excep- 
tion their accounts do not differ materially from 
Mark's. For a full consideration of the passage 
see notes on Matthew. 

8:31 to 9 : 1. Fikst announcement op 
our Lord's passion and resurrection. Matt. 
16 : 21-28; Luke 9 : 22-27. This prophecy, 
as indicated by all three Evangelists, was uttered 
immediately after the confession of Peter and 
prior to the transfiguration. Luke omits the re- 
buke of Peter. Mark alone (ver. 34) indicates the 
presence of other than the apostles ; but Luke 
(9: 23, "to ail,") intimates it. Ver. 38 is also pecu- 
liar to Mark in this connection ; but the same 
utterance is repeated by Matthew in another con- 
nection, and in a slightly different form (Matt. 10 : 
32, 33, note). The language there, deny, is nearly 
I equivalent to the language here, be ashamed of; 



374 



MARK. 



[Ch. IX. 



and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high 
mountain apart by themselves : and he was transfig- 
ured before them. 

3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white ' 
as snow ; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 

4 And there appeared unto them Elias, with Moses ; 
and they were talking with Jesus. 

5 And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it 
is good for us to be here : 8 and let us make three tab- 
ernacles : one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for 
Elias. 

6 For he wist h not what to say ; for they were sore 
afraid. 

7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them : 
and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This' is my 
beloved Son ; hear > him. 

8 And suddenly, when they had looked round about, 
they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with 
themselves. 



9 And as they came down from the mountain, he 
charged them that they should tell no man what things 
they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the 
dead. 

io And they kept that saying with themselves, ques- 
tioning one with another what the rising from the dead 
should mean." 

n And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes 
that Elias ' must first come ? 

12 And he answered and told them, Elias verily 
cometh first, and restoreth all things ; and how it is 
written m of the Son of man, that he must suffer many 
things, and be n set at nought. 

13 But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, 
and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, 
as it is written of him. 

14 And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great 
multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with 
them. 



f Dan. 7:9; Malt. 28 : 3.. 
k Acts 17 : 18.... 1 Mai. 
u Matt. 11 : 14; Luke 1 



..g Ps.63: 2; 84:10. ...h Dan. 10 : 15 ; Rev. 1 : 17. . . i Ps. 2 : 7 ; 

1:6 m Ps. 22 : 1, etc. ; Isa. 53 : 3, etc. ; Dan. 9 : 26 ; Zecli. 13 : 

17. 



Matt. 3 : 17; 2 Pet. 1 : 17.... j Dent. 18: 15. 
. . . .n Ps. 74 : 22 ; Luke 23 : 11 ; Phil. 2 : 7. 



the one represents the external manifestation, 
the other the inward feeling. With this verse 
comp. Hebrew 2 : 11 ; 11 : 10. On the whole 
passage see notes on Matthew. 

2-13. The transfiguration. Explanation 
as to Elias. Matt. 17 : 1-13 ; Luke 9 : 28-36. See 
notes on Matthew and Luke, especially former. 

10. "Questioning one with another 
what the rising from the dead should 
mean." This is peculiar to Mark. The Jews 
believed in a final resurrection (join 11 : 24 ; Acts 23 : s), 
to be accompanied by a general judgment. 
How, after such a resurrection, they were to tell 
men of the transfiguration, they could not com- 
prehend ; nor did they understand that Christ 
was to be a first-fruits of them that slept, and 
rise, straightway, from the dead. 

11, 12. Why say the scribes and Phari- 
sees that Elias {Elijah) must first come ? 
As was prophesied in Mai. 4 : 5. — And he 
answered and said unto them, Elias ver- 
ily cometh first and restoreth all things. 
The prophecy respecting Elijah was fulfilled in 
the spirit by the coming of John the Baptist 
(Matt. 17 : 11-13).— And why is it written of the 
Son of man that he must suffer many things 
and be set at nought ? Christ answers the 
question of the scribes with another. If they 
can interpret prophecy and make it bear testi- 
mony against the Lord's Messiahship, let them in- 
terpret the prophecies which foretell his passion 
and death. For the prophecies referred to, see 
marg. ref. 

Ch. 9 : 14-20. HEALING OP THE LUKATIC BOY.— 
The HOPELESSNESS OF the sin-stricken and the 

BUFFERING WITHOUT CHRIST : ILLUSTRATED BY THE 
FATHER AND HIS SON. — THE WEAKNESS OF THE 
CHURCH WITHOUT CHRIST : ILLUSTRATED BY THE FAIL- 
URE OF THE DISCIPLES. — THE LONG-SUFFERING OF 

Christ (ver. 19).— The condition of receiving his 
help : faith (ver. 23).— The prayer of the doubting 

DISCIPLE : HELP MY UNBELD3F (ver. 24).— THE CONDI- 



TION of successful Christian work (vers. 28, 29; 
Matt. 17 : 20, 21). 

This miracle is reported also in Matt. 17 : 14-21 
and Luke 9 : 37-42. The three Evangelists agree 
in placing it immediately after the transfigura- 
tion, and therefore during Christ's period of re- 
tirement, subsequent to his Galilean and prior to 
his principal Judean ministry. Its connection 
with the transfiguration is intimate and instruc- 
tive. Mark's account is the fullest and most 
graphic. He paints more vividly than the others 
the condition and sufferings of the boy ; he 
alone gives the conference between Jesus and 
the father (vers. 21-24), and his picture of the cure 
is the most detailed. Most evangelical commen- 
tators treat this as a case of real demoniacal pos- 
session. That evil spirits do really sometimes 
gain absolute control of men I believe and have 

argued elsewhere (see Note on Demoniacal Possession, p. 123) ; 

but that this is such a case is not so clear. The 
father characterizes his son as taken by a spirit 
(vers. 17, is ; Luke 9 : 39) ; Christ addresses the spirit 
(ver. 25) ; Mark and Luke speak of him as con- 
vulsed by the spirit (ver. 20 ; Luke 9 : 42) ; but in Mat- 
thew he is described as a lunatic (Matt, n : 15) ; his 
difficulty had existed from childhood (ver. 21), and 
therefore, presumptively, before his own wilful 
transgression could have given the devil control 
over him ; the symptoms described are those of 
epilepsy ; it is known that various diseases, es- 
pecially those accompanied by convulsions, were 
attributed by the Jews to evil spirits ; the word 
here used in describing this sufferer's condition 
is (except in Luke 9 : 42) spirit (rtrtv/iu), not devil 
(dulfioir, datftonor), and while the latter word is 
used in the Gospels only to describe a distinct evil 
spirit, the former is used also to describe the 

spirit Of man himself (Matt. 26 : 41 ; Mark 8:12; Luke 

1 : 47). Accepting, as I do, the doctrine of demo- 
niacal possession, I regard this as a case of that 
description ; but if there were no other evidence of 
real demoniacal possession, this might be inter 



Oh. IX.] 



MARK. 



375 



15 And straightway all the people, when they beheld 
him, were greatly amazed ; and running to kirn, sa- 
luted him. 

16 And he asked the scribes, What question ye with 
them? 

17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Mas- 
ter, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a 
dumb p spirit : 



18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him ; 
and he foameth,i and gnasheth with his teeth, and pin- 
eth away ; and I spake to thy disciples, that they should 
cast him out ; and they could not. 

19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless' genera- 
tion ! how long shall I be with you ? how long shall I 
suffer you ? Bring him unto me. 

20 And they brought him unto him : and when he 



p Matt. 12 : 22 ; Luke 11 : 14 q Jude 13 r Deut. 32 : 20 ; Ps. 78 : 8 ; Heb. 3:10. 



preted as simply a case of epilepsy, accompany- 
ing or producing deafness and dumbness. 

14. Anil when he came to his disciples. 

Three of them, Peter, James, and John, were 
with him on the Mount of Transfiguration (ver. 2). 
The time was the day after the transfiguration 
(Luke 9 : 37) ; the place the foot of the mount, 
which was probably not Mount Hermon, for the 
scribes would not have been in heathen territory, 
nor Mount Tabor, the top of which was the site 
of a fortified town. Observe the contrast be- 
tween "the open heaven and the sons of glory 
on the mount, and the valley of tears with its 
terrible forms of misery, and pain, and unbelief." 
— (Slier, in Alford.) This contrast illustrates the 
greater change of scene between Christ in his 
glory with the Father and Christ in the humilia- 
tion of his earthly life (pmi. 2 : 5-8). Compare, for 
an analogous contrast, Moses on the mountain- 
top and the people in their idolatry below (E*>d. 
31 : 18; 32: 1-6). Observe, too, that if Peter's re- 
quest to abide in the mountain-top (ver. 5) had 
been granted, the father's woe would not have 
been relieved. It is not by abiding in ecstasy 
with a transfigured Christ, but by following in 
daily duty a healing Christ, that we show our 
attachment to him. — Questioning with them. 
The spirit of the scribes' questions can easily be 
gathered from their language to Jesus on other 
occasions, for example, Matt. 21 : 15, 10 ; Mark 
2 : 6, 7 ; 3 : 22 ; Luke 5 : 30 ; 11 : 53, 54. Doubt- 
less they were taunting the disciples with their 
failure. The conference which follows indicates 
a skilful, because an indirect defence of the disci- 
ples, whom afterward, but in private, Christ re- 
buked (vers. 28, 29 ; Matt. 17 : 20 ). 

15, 16. Were greatly amazed. Possibly 
at his unexpected appearance upon the scene. 
But, remembering how Moses' countenance glis- 
tened on his descent from the mount (Exod. 34: 29, 
30; 2 Cor. 3 :7), the hypothesis is not unreasonable 
that a similar glory irradiated Christ's face. 
The former brightness awed the people ; this at- 
tracted them. — Greeted him. An indication 
of Christ's popularity.— -And he asked the 
scribes; "taking the baffled and hard-pressed 
disciples under his own protection, and declar- 
ing that whatever question there was more, it 
must be with himself." — (Trench.) And observe 
tnat both they and the disciples are silent, the one 



from fear of Christ, the other from self-humilia- 
tion. It is the father who replies. 

17, 18. According to Luke the son was an 
only child (Luke 9 : 38) ; according to Matthew a lu- 
natic (Matt. 17 •. is), literally moon-struck, it being a 
notion with the ancients, and even in later times, 
that the influence of the moon produced mental 
disorder (ps. 121 : 6). The symptoms here de- 
scribed are those of epilepsy, and according to Dr. 
Robinson (Lexicon of n. t.) the original in Matthew 
translated lunatic (aeltjriu^ofiai) in Greek usage 
indicates to be epileptic ; but for this statement he 
cites but one authority. Comp. with Mark's de- 
scription of the boy's condition Luke 9 : 39. The 
boy was deaf and dumb (ver. 25), and was subject 
to convulsions. Matthew ( n : 15) says he suffered 
severely, for this is the significance of the phrase 
rendered " sore vexed." — Teareth him. Rather 
throws him to the ground, as one wrestler throws 
another ((it' l yrv/.u). — Pineth away. Perhaps, 
becomes dry or stiff, a phenomenon often ac- 
companying or following epileptic convulsions ; 
either translation is admissible. Luke adds," he 
suddenly crieth out," i. e., with an inarticulate cry, 
and " it," i. e., the evil spirit, " hardly," i. e., with 
difficulty, "departeth from him." In other 
words, the convulsions were sudden, severe, and 
long-continued. — And they could not. "The 
faith of the disciples wavered by the plain diffi- 
culty of the thing which seemed impossible to 
overcome, when so many evils were digested into 
one, — deafness, dumbness, phrensy, and posses- 
sion of the devil ; and all these from the cradle." 
— (Lightfoot.) 

19. O unbelieving race, how long shall 
I be with you ? How long shall I suffer 
you ? Literally, Hold up under you. The lan- 
guage illustrates the sense in which Christ bears 
our weaknesses, our woes, and our sins — how they 
burden him. Comp. Matt. 8 : 17, note. The lan- 
guage is not, as Calvin interprets it, that of indig- 
nant invective, but of pity and soul-weariness (comp. 
John 14 : 9). It is true that Matthew and Luke add to 
the phrase unbelieving generation the adjective per- 
verse, but this does not necessarily indicate invec- 
tive or an indignant spirit, for the verb is in the 
perfect passive, and the literal translation would 
be perverted race, i. e., race turned aside from the 
truth. Christ's indignation went out against 
those who had perverted the people, their reli- 



376 



MAEK. 



[Oh. IX. 



saw him, straightway the spirit tare him ; and he fell 
on the ground, and wallowed foaming. 

21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since 
this came unto him ? And he said, Of a child : » 

22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and 
into the waters, to destroy him : but if thou canst do 
anything, have compassion on us, and help us. 

23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all 
things are possible to him that believeth. 

24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, 
and said with tears," Lord, I believe ; help" thou mine 
unbelief. 

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running to- 



gether, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him. 
Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out or 
him, and enter no more into him. 

26 And the spirit cried, and rent w him sore, and came 
out of him : and he was as one dead ; insomuch that 
many said, He is dead. 

27 But Jesus took him by the x hand, and lifted him 
up ; and he arose. 

28 And when he was come into the house, his disci- 
ples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him 
out? 

29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth 
by nothing but by 1 prayer and fasting. 2 



3 Job. 5 : 7 ; Pa. 51 : 5. 



..t ch. 11 : 23; 2 Chron. 20 : 20 ; Matt. 17 : 20; Luke 17 : 6; John 11 : 40; Heb. 11 : 6. 
12 : 2 w Rev. 12: 12 x Iaa. 41 : 13 y Ephea. 6 : 18 z 1 Cor. 9 : 27. 



.u F8. 126 : 5... 



gious leaders ; his pity embraced those who were 
perverted by a false education. And his lan- 
guage hare is called forth, not by the malig- 
nance of the scribes, but by the unbelief of his 
disciples. It is not directed to either scribes, 
disciples, or people alone, but to the Jewish 
race, as a race, and even still to his church and 
to humanity. On the Greek word (yeisu), here 
rendered generation, see note on Matt. 24 : 34. — 
Bring him unto me. The language of calm 
assurance. The disciples could not cure him ; 
bring him then to the Master. Often this is the 
direction of Christ to the sin-stricken soul. The 
minister has failed to give comfort ; the failure 
is itself a call from the Lord to himself. Comp. 
2 Kings 4 : 31-37, where the prophet's staff fails, 
but the prophet does not. 

20. And when he, the boy ; saw him, 
Christ ; straightway the spirit convulsed 
him. " The kingdom of Satan in small and great 
is ever stirred into a fiercer activity by the com- 
ing near of the kingdom of Christ. Satan has 
great wrath when his time is short."— (Trench.) 

21-24. This instructive conference with the 
father is given only by Mark. The question and 
the father's answer operates as a plea for the dis- 
ciples, by showing how serious and deep-seated 
is the disease.— Of a child. Literally, from 
childhood, here probably equivalent to from in- 
fancy. If this was a true case of demoniacal 
possession, it is the only one in the N. T. in 
which the possession was congenital, and hence 
not possibly due to the victim's own wrong-do- 
ing. Can a true demoniacal possession be inher- 
ited ? — If thou canst do anything. A very 
natural doubt, since the disciples had failed to 
cure. — Help us. Come to our help. The Greek 
(poy&tu)) literally signifies to run up at aery for 
help. See Josh. 10 : 6 ; Acts 16 : 9 ; 31 : 28. Ob- 
serve how the father and the child are one in 
their misery : help us is his prayer. Comp. the 
similar language of the Syro-Phcenicim woman 
(Matt. 15 : 22, note). — Jesus said unto him this 
(saying): if thou canst believe, all things 
are possible to him that believeth. There 
is some uncertainty as to the proper rendering of 



the original. That which I have given, adopted 
by Alford, seems to me to accord best with the 
grammatical construction of the sentence. It 
indicates that the saying was one repeated by 
Christ on other occasions, as we know its sub- 
stance to have been. Comp. Matt. 9 : 29, and 
Christ's language to his own disciples (Matt. 17 : 20), 
subsequent to the cure here recorded. Christ's 
answer implies, (1) that the difficulty of healing 
was not and never is in any weakness of the Lord, 
but in the want of faith of the supplicant ; and 
this because, (2) the healing is to be wrought, if 
at all, not in answer to the challenge "if thou 
canst do anything," but in answer to a humble, 
devout trust in him who can do all things. 
" Hence may be learned a useful doctrine, which 
will equally apply to all of us, that it is not the 
Lord who prevents his benefits from flowing to 
us in large abundance, but that it must be at- 
tributed to the narrowness of our faith, that it 
comes to us only in drops, and that frequently 
we do not even feel a drop, because unbelief 
shuts up our heart." — (Calvin.) — I believe. 
Come to the help of mine unbelief. " The 
little spark of faith which has been kindled in 
his soul reveals to him the abysmal deeps of un- 
belief which are there." — (Trench.) This is 
always the true prayer of the doubting Christian. 
It is noteworthy that in this case, where the child 
is incapacitated from the exercise of faith, he is 
healed upon the faith of the father, or rather 
upon the father's aspiration after faith. 

25-27. This description of the cure is much 
fuller and more graphic than in either Matthew or 
Luke. The miracle is wrought before the people 
have crowded round the patient, that, as far as 
possible, publicity may be avoided ; it is perma- 
nent, being accompanied by the command, 
" Enter no more into him ; " it is in seeming, at 
first, no cure, for the boy is more terribly con- 
vulsed than before, and at first taken to be 
dead ; but the work begun by the word is fin- 
ished by the touch of Christ, " Jesus took him 
by the hand." The commentators note in the 
frightfulness of the last convulsion a symbol of 
Satan's outgoing in the moral world, always with 



Oh. IX.] 



MAEK. 



377 



30 And they departed thence, and passed through 
Galilee ; and he would not that any man should know it. 

31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, 
The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and 
they shall kill him ; and after that he is killed, he shall 
rise the third day. 



32 But they understood not that saying, and were 
afraid to ask a him. 

33 And b he came to Capernaum : and being in the 
house, he asked them, What was it that ye disputed 
among yourselves by the way ? 



a John 16 : 19 b Matt. IS : 1, etc. ; Luie 9 : 46, etc. ; 22 : 24, etc. 



seemingly destructive violence. In the quaint 
words of Fuller, he is " like an outgoing tenant 
that cares not what mischief he does." Comp. 
Mark 1 : 26, note. 

28, 29. Matthew's report of the private con- 
ference between Christ and his disciples is fuller 
than Mark's. To their question, " Why could 
we not east him out ? " Christ replies : " Because 
of your unbelief," and adds the promise to faith, 
subsequently repeated at the time of the wither- 
ing away of the fig-tree (Matt, it : 20). See note 
on Mark 11:22-26. — Prayer and fasting. 
Prayer, because it is only in and through the di- 
vine power that the power of the devil can ever 
be conquered (Ephes. 6 : 10, 11) ; fasting, because (1) 
this is the outward symbol of self-denial which is 
a condition of following Christ, and therefore of 
successful Christian achievement ; (2) because 
the most intense spiritual labor, as the most in- 
tense intellectual labor, is naturally accompanied 
by a cessation, for a time, of the bodily wants. 
Comp. John 4 : 31-34. On the general subject of 
Christian fasting, see Matt. 9 : 15, note. 

In this miracle, as in nearly if not absolutely 
all Christ's miracles of healing, the student may 
easily trace a parable of redemption. The soul 
is under the bondage of Satan (John 8 : 34 ; 2 Pet. 2:19); 
it is deaf, ignorant of the glories of the divine 
kingdom; dumb, unable to speak God's praise 
(1 Cor. 2 : 14) ; no human helper is able to ransom, 
no minister, no priest (Psaim49:7; Acts 4: 12); the 
disease is in the soul, as in the race, from its in- 
fancy (Rom. 5 : 14 ; Ephes. 2:3); a deliverance is possi- 
ble through faith to every one that believeth 
(Rom. 3 : 22) ; even the unbelieving may have help 
in their unbelief (Ephes. 2 : s) ; the first approach of 
Christ to the soul often seems to aggravate the 
evil (Exod. ch. 5) ; the command of Christ leaves 
the soul dead, as to the world ; but the love of 
Christ raises it from the dead to newness of life 
in him (Rom. 6 : ii; Gal. 2: 2o). Observe, also, that 
faith is the essential strength of the Christian 
(i John 5: 4); its lack subjects us to Christ's just 
rebuke (ver. 19) ; it gives power not only with God, 
but also, if rightly exercised, power over men 
(Gen. 32: 8); it is attainable only by prayer, i.e., 
communion with God, and fasting, i. e., abstinence 
from whatever impedes, permanently, or for the 
occasion, the highest spiritual life. 

Ch. 9 : 30-32. PROPHECY OF OUR LORD'S DEATH AND 
RESURRECTION. — History is the true interpreter 
op prophecy. See Luke 9 : 43-45, notes. 



Matt. 17 : 22, 23 ; Luke 9 : 43-45. See notes on 
Luke, who gives some particulars not given here. 
Compare also previous prophecy of his Passion. 
Matt. 16 : 21, notes ; Mark 8 : 31, notes. 

30. And he would not that any man 
should know. One of the numerous indica- 
tions that this period was one of retirement, not 
of public ministry. See Matt. 15 : 29-39, note. 
The reason of this retirement is indicated in the 
following verse. 

31. For he was teaching his disciples, 
i. e., the twelve. Not as in our English version, 
he taught, but at tJds time he was teaching them, i. e., 
concerning his passion atd resurrection. He 
went through Galilee secretly, because this 
period of retirement was devoted to the confiden- 
tial instruction of his Apostles. — Is delivered. 
The present tense with the force of the future, 
but expressing more impressively the nearness 
and the certainty of the predicted event. Comp. 
Matt. 26 : 2. 

32. Understood not that saying. — That 
even the twelve apostles had no understanding of 
the Passion, and no correct apprehension of the 
spirituality and universality of Christ's mission 
until after Christ's resurrection, is evident from 
many references. See Matt. 16 : 22 ; Mark 16 : 14 ; 
Luke 18 : 34 ; 24 : 25-27, 44. That it was not 
intended that they should clearly apprehend our 
Lord's death or his resurrection, is indicated by 
Luke 9 : 45. See note there. — Were afraid to 
ask him. Perhaps simply from the awe with 
which they regarded him (Mark 10 : 32 ; John 16 : 18, 19) ; 
rather, I should think, because they dimly per- 
ceived the terrible sorrow which was in store for 
them, and shrank from knowing it more fully. 

Ch. 9 : 33-50. DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE KING- 
DOM OF HEAVEN. — True greatness: to forget self; 
to serve others (33-37). — Never thwart work done 
for Christ, because it is done irregularly (38-40). 
— The condemnation of the tempter (42-48).— Self- 
sacrifice necessary in the Christian life (49, 50). 

Of these instructions, Matthew (ch. is) gives a 
fuller, and Luke (9 •. 46-50) a briefer account. They 
may possibly be not a single discourse, but a sum- 
mary of instruction afforded by Christ during the 
period of retirement with the twelve, after the 
close of his Galilean ministry, but this is not 
probable. On the whole discourse, see notes on 
Matt. 18 ; verses 1 to 9 are parallel to verses here. 
I treat here only such expressions as are not 
found in Matthew. 



378 



MARK. 



[Oh. IX. 



34 But they held their peace : for by the way they 
had disputed among themselves who should be the 
greatest. 

35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith 
unto them, If" any man desire to be first, the sa?ne 
shall be last of all, and servant of all. 

36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of 
them : and when he had taken him in his arms, he said 
unto them, 

37 Whosoever d shall receive one of such children 
in my name, receiveth me : and whosoever shall re- 
ceive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me. 

38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw e 
one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth 
not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth 
not us. 

39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there f is no 
man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can 
lightly speak evil of me. 

40 Fore he that is not against us, is on our part. 

41 For h whosoever shall give you a cup of water to 
drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, ver- 
ily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. 

42 And whosoever shall offend' one of these little 
ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a mill- 



stone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast 
into the sea. 

43 Andi if thy hand offend thee, cut it of^ it is bet- 
ter for thee to enter into life maimed, than, having two 
hands, to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
quenched ; 

44 Where 11 their worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched. 

45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better 
for thee to enter halt into life, than, having two feet, 
to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
quenched ; 

46 Where their worm dietli not, and the fire is not 
quenched. 

47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck It out : it is 
better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with 
one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire : 

48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire 1 is not 
quenched. 

49 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every 
sacrifice m shall be salted with salt. 

50 Salt is good : but if the salt " have lost his sal t- 
ness, wherewith will "ye season it? Have salt in 
yourselves, and have" peace one with another. 



c ch. 10 : 43; Matt. 20 
18:6; Luke 17:1,1 
43 : 24 n Matt. 5 



26, 27.... d Luke 9 :48....e Numb. 11 ; 26-28 f 1 Cor. 12 : 3.... g Matt. 12 : 30 b Matt. 10 : 

i Deut. 13 : 6 ; Matt. 5 : 29 It Isa. 66 ; 24 ; Rev. 14 : 11 lver.44,46; Luke 16:24.. 

13; Luke 14:34....o Col. 4:6.... p Ps. 34 : 14; 2 Cor. IS: 11; Heb. 12: 14. 



42 ; 25 : 40. . .i Matt, 
m Lev. 2 : 13 ; Ezek. 



33. In the house. Possibly of Peter who 
resided at Capernaum (Mark 1 : 29). — What was it 
that ye disputed ? For seeming discrepancies 
in the accounts of the three Evangelists and their 
reconciliation, see notes on Matt. 18 : 1. 

35. The same shall be last. Equivalent 
to "last among you all" in Luke, and inter- 
preted by, " Whosoever shall humble himself as 
this little child " in Matthew. — And servant of 
all. Peculiar to Mark. But the same proverb 
is often repeated. See, on its meaning, Matt. 
23 : 11, 13, note. It adds an element wanting in 
Matthew's and Luke's reports. The two condi- 
tions of greatness in Christ's kingdom are, (1) 
voluntary humility, a willingness to take the 
lowest and least place ; and (3) an enthusiasm of 
love, showing itself in practical serving of others. 
Observe, "servant of alV The love which 
serves only a class, a church, a sect, or especial 
and congenial friends, cannot claim anything 
under this declaration of our Lord's. Compare 
Matt. 5 : 46-48 ; Luke 10 : 39-37 ; Rom. 1 : 14. 
This meaning is best interpreted by his own 
example. See Phil. 3 : 5-11. 

37. Receiveth not me, i. e., not merely me. 
— But him that sent me. God the Father 
(John 17 : is). Compare John 5 : 33, and Matt. 
10 : 40, note. 

38-40. This interruption by John, and our 
Lord's reply, are not reported by Matthew. The 
disciples had shortly before returned to Christ 
from their first missionary tour, in which they 
were empowered to cast out devils (Matt. 10 : 8). 
The man here referred to they probably met dur- 
ing this tour. He must have been a disciple of 
Christ, who was enabled by his faith, yet without 
a commission, to cure the possessed. It is not 



necessary to trace a logical connection between 
John's question and Christ's preceding instruc- 
tion. The Lord has rebuked the pride of the 
disciples ; and exclusiveness is always the result 
of pride. John feels, rather than sees, that his act 
was inconsistent with the spirit of Christ's teach- 
ing, and reports it for further instruction. The 
force of Christ's reply is somewhat impaired by 
our English version. — Forbid him not : for 
there is no one (not merely no man) who 
shall do a mighty work,(not merely a miracle, 
not mjfiBtuv but t)iiv«iuc) and shall be able 
hastily to speak evil of me. The work he 
has done in Christ's name, will itself prevent him 
from forthwith using an influence against Christ. 
The principle inculcated forbids discouraging 
any work, by whomsoever undertaken, minister or 
layman, man or woman, which is really accom- 
plishing Spiritual results (conip. Numb. 11 : 26-29; 

i cor. 12:8; PMi. i : 16-18). " Let them heed this who 
confine spiritual gifts to a canonical succession" 
(Sengel) ; or, let me add, to a clerical office, for- 
bidding either laymen or lay-women to cast out 
devils in Christ's name. But, though doing 
mighty works in Christ's name is never to be 
forbidden, he who does them may not be a true 
child of God (Matt. 7 : 22, 23). 

40. He that is not against us is for us. 
The converse of this proposition is true; "he 
that is not with me is against me" (Matt. 12:30, 
note). So far from being inconsistent, the two 
sayings represent opposite poles of the same 
truth. Every one is either for Christ or against 
him ; neutrality is impossible. Therefore (1), let 
him that is not consciously working for Christ, 
beware lest he be found working against him ; 
(3) let no one thwart or hinder any work that is 



Oh. IX.] 



MARK. 



379 



not clearly opposed to Christ, for it may prove to 

be WOrk for llim (comp. Acts 5 : 38, 39). 

41. See Matt. 10 : 43, note. The connection 
here is this : Even since the smallest service done 
in and for Christ shall not be unrewarded, so 
great an one as casting out of devils, should not 
be prohibited. 

42-48. The phraseology here is very nearly 
the same as in the parallel passage in Matt. 18 : 
6-8. See notes there, and on Matt. 5 : 23. But 
the solemn addition of verses 44, 40, 48, " Where 
their worm dieth not and the fire is not 
quenched," is peculiar to Mark. There is some 
doubt about the genuineness of verses 44 and 40, 
but not about verse 48. There is some doubt, 
also, as to the genuineness of the phrase in verse 
45, "into the fire that never shall be quenched." 
Alford doubts, and Tischendorf omits it. The 
phrase " where their worm dieth not, and the fire 
is not quenched " (versus 44, 46 ami 4»), is quoted from 
Isaiah 68 : 24. It there unquestionably indicates, 
not the torture, but the utter destruction of 
transgressors. They, i. e. their corpses, should 
be consumed with a fire like that of Gehenna, 
which consumed the offal of Jerusalem (Matt. 5 : 22, 
note), and eaten with worms, as the unburied on 
the battle-field ; and this destruction should be 
open, public, continuous, a warning to others ; 
for Isaiah adds, " they shall be an abhorring to 
all flesh." The symbol here, therefore, of the 
worm and the fire, is not of ever-during torment, 
but of a complete destruction from which there 
would and could be no deliverance, and after 
which no restoration. Whether the destruction 
of the wicked here and elsewhere foretold (Matt. 
13:30; 2Thess. 1 : 9) is to be literally or spiritually 
interpreted, is another question, to be determined, 
if at all, by reference to other passages of Scrip- 
ture. 

49, 50. These verses are confessedly difficult 
of interpretation. They are peculiar to Mark. 
In respect to the proper rendering of verse 49, I 
remark (1) the substitution of in for with will 
render the meaning somewhat clearer, and it is 
grammatically justifiable. (The Greek student 
will observe that the dative alone is sometimes 
in the N. T. usage equivalent to the dative coupled 
with iv. Compare in Greek Testament, 1 Pet. 
4 : 1, first clause with last clause, and Tit. 1 : 13 
with Tit. 3:2.) (3.) The clause, "And every 
sacrifice shall be salted with salt," is not in the 
Vatican or Sinaitic manuscript. It is omitted by 
Tischendorf, but retained by Alford. I incline 
to regard it as spurious. It is, however, true 
that in the O. T. ritualism the meat-offerings 
(Lev. 2:13), and later the burnt-offerings (Ezek. 43 : 24), 
were required to be salted. To this law the 
clause in question refers, whether it was uttered 
by our Lord, or added by a copyist. The con- 
junction and is equivalent to even as, and shall be 



salted is equivalent to is required to he salted. The 
future is used because the law is quoted, not 
because futurity is referred to. Verse 49, then, 
will read thus : For every one (under the N. T. 
dispensation) shall be salted in fire, even as 
every sacrifice (under the O. T. dispensation) 
is required to be sailed with salt. The 
proper rendering of verse 50 presents no difficul- 
ties. In interpreting these verses, consider (1) 
the Scripture meaning of the symbolism here 
employed. Fire is sometimes a symbol of de- 
struction (Isaiah 33 : 14 ; Obad. 18 ; Rev. 20 : 9 j 21 : 8 ; verso 44 

above), sometimes a symbol of purification by 

trial (Jcr. 23 : 29, and references below), Sometimes a Sym- 
bol of God's presence, but always of his presence 
to purify, either the individual sinner by con- 
suming his sins, or the world by consuming the 
irredeemable sinners (Deut. 4 : 24 ; Heb. 12 : 29 ; Mai. 3 : 2, 
3; comp. Matt. 13 : 40-42. 49, 50). Salt is employed by 
Christ in a parallel passage (Matt. 5 : 13, note), as a 
symbol of Christians, who, because of their spirit 
of willing self-sacrifice, exert a purifying and pre- 
serving power upon a corrupt world — a power to 
flavor it with divine grace. (2.) Notice the con- 
nection. The conjunction for (ver. 49) connects 
these aphorisms with the previous exhortation 
to voluntary self-sacrifice (ver. 43-43), and the 
whole is connected closely with, and springs out 
of the previous controversy among the twelve 
as to which should be the greatest (ver. 33, 34). 
These facts interpret the meaning of the passage 
which may be paraphrased thus : Cut off the right 
hand or the right foot, or pluck out the right eye, 
i. e., sacrifice what is dearest to you, rather than 
suffer it to lead you or others into sin ; for every one 
of my disciples must be salted in the fire of trial, 
i. e., prepared to become a living sacrifice (Rom. 
12 : 1) by fiery trial, even as under the O. T. dis- 
pensation, every sacrifice is required to be salted 
with salt. Ye are, as I have before told you, the 
salt of tJie earth. But if the salt hath lost its salt- 
ness, i. e., the Christian the spirit of voluntary 
self-sacrifice, by which alone his purifying influ- 
ence is exerted, whence shall it derive its moral 
power. Have solt in yourselves, have, that is, this 
spirit of self-sacrifice, and you -will have pcaee one 
with another, there will be an end to unseemly 
strife as to which shall be the greatest. The 
passage as thus interpreted accords with the 
declaration of John the Baptist concerning the 
mission of Christ : He shall baptize you with the 

Holy GhOSt and With fire (Matt. 3 : ll, note; comp. Matt. 

20 : 22) with Christ's own declaration concerning his 
mission. " I am come to send fire on the earth " 
(Luke 12: 49), and with the subsequent employ- 
ment of the same symbol by the Apostles (1 Cor. 
3:13; 1 Pet. i : 7 ; 4 : 12, 13). It accords, also, with the 
unsymbolic teaching of Christ, in other passages, 
respecting the necessity of self-sacrifice in his 

followers (Luke 9: 23; 14:26,27; John 12 : 25, etc.), and 



380 



MAEK. 



[Ch. X. 



CHAPTER X. 

ANDi he arose from thence, and cometh into the 
coasts of Judaea, by the farther side of Jordan : 
and the people resort unto him again ; and, as he was 
wont, he taught them again. 

2 And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him. Is 
it lawful for a man to put away his wife ? tempting 
him. 

3 And he answered and said unto them, What did 
Moses command you ? 

4 And they said, Moses r suffered to write a bill of 
divorcement, and to put her away. 

5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the 
hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept : 

6 But from the beginning of the creation God made" 
them male and female. 

7 For' this cause shall a man leave his father and 
mother, and cleave to his wife : 

8 And they twain shall be one "flesh: so then they 
are no more twain, but one flesh. 

9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not 
man put asunder. 

io And in the house his disciples asked him again of 
the same matter. 

n And he saith unto them," Whosoever shall put 
away his wife, and marry another, committeth adul- 
tery against her. 

12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and 
be married to another, she committeth adultery. 

13 And™ they brought young children to him, that 
he should touch them : and his disciples rebuked those 
that brought them. 

14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much x displeased, 
and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come 
unto me, and forbid them not; for of such J is the king- 
dom of God. 

15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not re- 
ceive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not 
enter therein. 

16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hauds 
upon them, and blessed them. 

17 And 2 when he was gone forth into the way, there 



came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, 
Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eter- 
nal life ? 

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me 
good ? There is none good but one," that is, God. 

19 Thou knowest the" commandments, Do not com- 
mit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal. Do not bear 
false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and 
mother. 

20 And he answered and said unto him. Master, all 
these have I observed from my youth. 

21 Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said 
unto him, One " thing thou lackest : go thy way, sell 
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
shalt have treasure e in heaven : and come, take up the 
cross, and follow me. 

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away 
grieved ; for he had great possessions. 

23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his 
disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter 
into the kingdom of God ! 

24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. 
But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them. Chil- 
dren, how hard is it for them that trust 1 ' in riches to 
enter into the kingdom of God ! 

25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom 
of God. 

26 And they were astonished out of measure, saying 
among themselves, Who then can be saved ? 

27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it 
is impossible, but not with God : for e with God all 
things are possible. 

s8 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have 
left all, and have followed thee. 

29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto 
you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, 
or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or 
lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, 

30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this 
time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, 
and children, and lands, with persecutions ; and in the 
world to come eternal life. 



q Malt. 19 : 1, etc.; John 10 : 40 r Deut. 24 : 1 ; Matt. 5 : 31 s Gen. 1 : 27 ; 5 : 2 ; Mai. 2 : 15... t Gen. 2 : 24 u 1 Cor. 6 : 16; Ephes. 

6 :31 v Malt. 5 : 32 ; 19 : 9 ; Luke 16 : 18; Rom. 7:3; 1 Cor. 7 : 10, 11.... w Matt. 19 : 13 ; Luke 18 ; 15.... x Ephes. 4 : 26.... y Matt. 

18 : 10; 1 Cor. 14: 20; 1 Pet. -2:2; Rev. 14 ; 5 z Malt. 19 : 16, etc. ; Luke 18 : 18, etc a Pa. 86 : 5 ; 119 : 68 b Exod. 20; Rom. 13 : 9. 

....c Isa. 58: 2: Ezek. 33 : 31, 32; 1U11I. 3:8; Rom 7:9; Phil. 3 : 6....d James 2 : 10.... e Mntt. 6: 19,20; Luke 12: 33; 16 :9....f Job 
31 : 24; Ps. 52 : 7 ; 62: 10; Hab. 2; 9 ; 1 Tim. 6 : 17 ; Rev. 3 : 17.... g Gen. 18 : 14 ; Job 42 : 2 ; Jer. 32 : 17 ; Luke 1 : 37. 



with the actual experience of the Christian 
church, in which it is almost universally obser- 
vable that those who have suffered, in Christ's 
fiery trial, possess an indescribable flavor and 
power of character aud experience, which makes 
them in a peculiar sense, the salt of the commu- 
nity or the church. 

Ch. 10 : 1. The mission in Perea. See 
note on parallel passage in Matt. 19 : 1, 2. 

2-12. Christ's law of marriage and di- 
vorce. See notes on Matt. 19: 3-13. Of these 
instructions Luke gives only a hint (Luke 16 : is). 
Verse 12 here is peculiar to Mark. " It is ex- 
pressed as though the woman were the active 
party, and put away her husband, which was 
allowed by Greek and Roman law (i Cor. 7 : 1.3), but 

not by Jewish (Deut. 24 : 1 ; Josephus' Antiquities XV : 7, 

in)." — (Alford.) It confirms what I have said on 
Matt. 19 : 9, that the principles respecting di- 
vorce here inculcated apply equally to either sex. 
The other variations in language between the ac- 
counts of Matthew and Mark are unimportant. 
For the most important see note on Matt. 19 :4-6. 



13-16. Christ blesses little children. 
Matt. 19 : 13-15 ; Luke 18 : 15-17. See notes on 
Matthew. Mark adds some graphic touches not 
given by Matthew, viz., that "he was much dis- 
pleased, " and that "he took them up in his 
arms." Verse 15 is given by Mark and Luke, 
but not by Matthew. On the respects in which 
we must become like little children in order 
to enter Christ's kingdom, see notes on Matt. 
18 : 3, 4. 

17-22. The rich young ruler. Matt. 19 : 
16-22 ; Luke 18 : 18-23. In studying this inci- 
dent compare these accounts with care. On 
the whole incident consult notes on Matthew. 
The pictorial and graphic nature of Mark's 
writing is illustrated in his account here. It is 
he alone who tells us that the young man came 
running (a token of his earnestness), and kneeled 
to Jesus (a token of his reverence) in the way, 
i. e., on the public road (a token of humility). 
He alone tells us (W 21) that " Jesus beholding 
him loved him " ; he graphically portrays the 
change in the young man at our Lord's answer: 




8 



3 

-to 



*> 






N 
8 



c3 



i-Q 



s 



Ch. X.] 



MAEK. 



381 



31 But h many that are first shall be last; and the 
last first. 

32 And ' they were in the way going up to Jerusa- 
lem ; and Jesus went before them : and they were 
amazed ; and as they followed, they were afraid. And 
he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what 
things should happen unto him, 

33 Saying, Behold, we' go up to Jerusalem ; and the 
Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, 
and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to 
death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles ; 



34 And k they shall mock him, and shall scourge 
him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him ; and 
the third day he shall rise again. 

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come 
unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou should- 
est do for us whatsoever we shall desire. 

36 And he said unto them, What would ye that I 
should do for you ? 

37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may 
sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy leit 
hand, in thy glory, 



h Matt. 20 : 16 ; Luke 13 : 30 i Matt. 30 : 17, etc. ; Luke 18 : 31, etc j Acts 20 : 22 k Ps. 22 : 6, 7, 13. 



"He saddened at the saying and went away 
grieved " (ver. 22). 

23-31. DISCOURSE CONCERNING EICHES. 

Matt. 10 : 28-30 ; Luke 18 : 21-30. See notes on 
Matthew. Mark's report contains some import- 
ant particulars not given by the others. To him 
we are indebted for what is the key-note to the 
entire discourse, and, indeed, to the whole 
Scripture teaching on the subject of wealth. 
" How hard is it for them that trust in riches to 
enter into the kingdom of God " (ver. 24) ; to him 
also for the explicitness of the language in which 
Christ's promise of earthly prosperity is clothed, 
the words "now in this time, houses, and 
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and chil- 
dren, and lands, with persecutions," being pecu- 
liar to Mark. On the promise see note on 
Matthew, p. 230. After this discourse, and form- 
ing an integral part of it, follows the parable of 
the laborers in the vineyard, reported alone by 
Matthew, ch. 20 : 1-16. 

Ch. 10 : 32-34. PROPHECY OF CHRIST'S PASS10X AND 
RESURRECTION. — Chbist's constancy the Chris- 
tian's example (Heb. 12 : 2). 

Matt. 20 : 17-19 ; Luke 18 : 31-34. The place 
of this prophecy is the road leading to Jerusalem 
(Lake 19 -.i); the time is intermediate the close of 
the ministry in Perea (Matt. 19 : 1, 2, note) and the 
Passion week, and, in the judgment of the best 
harmonists, after the resurrection of Lazarus 

(John, cb. 111. 

32. This graphic description is found only in 
Mark. — In the way. The public highway. — 
Amazed * * * afraid. In a ministry of 
three months in Jerusalem the Jews sought to 
assassinate Jesus, twice mobbed him, and once 
issued an order for his arrest (John 7 : 19, 32 ; 8 : 59 ; 
10 : 31, 39). Their enmity was increased by the res- 
urrection of Lazarus (John 2 : 46-so). The disciples 
were amazed that Jesus should return to Jerusa- 
lem in the face of this hostility. They were 
afraid to follow, yet would not turn back (John 
11 : 8 with 6 : 67, 68). It is in answer to their unex- 
pressed amazement and fear that Christ, who 
would have all his followers count the cost (Luke 
H : 27, 28), foretells his approaching death. There 
may have been something in his determined gait 
and mien, expressed here in the words, "Jesus 



went before them," which enhanced their awe. 
Wordsworth notes this as one of the indications 
in the N. T. of the peculiar effect produced on 
others by Christ's external appearance and de- 
portment ; I should add, by the unconscious 
manifestation of his moral and spiritual power. 
See for other illustrations of this, Matt. 21 : 12 ; 
Mark 9 : 15 ; Luke 4 : 20, 30 ; John 7 : 44-40 ; 
18 : 6. The spirit of Christ's going up to Jeru- 
salem as described here by Mark illustrates and 
is illustrated by Heb. 12 : 2. He " endured the 
cross, despising the shame. "—Began to tell. 
More fully and clearly than ever before. This 
was the third prophecy of his sufferings (M=tt. 
16 : 21 ; 17 : 22), but now f or the first time he dis- 
tinctly declares that he is to be crucified (uctt. 
20 : 19). 

33, 34. Luke adds, "All things that are writ- 
ten by the prophets concerning the Son of man 
shall be accomplished," a clear recognition of 
the truth that the Passion of the Messiah was a 
distinct subject of O. T. prophecy (Luke 18 : 31, note). 
— Betrayed, by Judas Iscariot, nnto the 
chief priests and scribes, i. e., the Sanhe- 
drim (see Matt. 2 : 4, note). — And they shall con- 
demn him to death, etc. For the literal 
fulfilment of these prophecies see Matt. 20 : 14-10, 
47, 66 ; 27 : 2, 28-31, 35 ; 28 : 19. Luke adds that 
the disciples did not understand Christ's prophe- 
cy (Luke is : 33, note). This, too, is evident from the 
incident that follows. 

Ch. 10 : 35-45. AMBITIOUS REQUEST OF THE SONS OF 
ZEBEDEE. — Illustrations of unanswered prater: 

A UNITED PRAYER OF FAITH DENIED. — The FALSE AND 

the true aspiration for glory (ver. 37 with John 
17:5; Rom. 2:7; 2 Tim. 4 : 7, 8).— The answer of 
Christ to the Christian's prayer for glory (vers. 
38, 39; Rom. 5:3-5; 8 : 18).— Christ the administra- 
tor of the Father's will (ver. 40).— The heathen 
and the Christian ideas of greatness contrasted 
(vers. 42-44). — The mission of the Messiah (ver. 45). 
Comp. Matt. 20 : 20-28. There is no material 
difference in the two accounts, except that Mat- 
thew represents the request as preferred by 
the mother, Salome. , But in Matthew Christ's 
reply is made to the sons. Probably the sons 
brought their mother with them, as the modern 
office-seeker seeks through the intervention of 
another ; perhaps, too, they remembered the re- 



382 



MAEK. 



[Oh. X. 



38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye 1 know not what ye 
ask. Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and De 
baptized with the baptism m that I am baptized with ? 

39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus 
sad unto them, Ye" shall indeed drink of the cup° 
that I drink of: and with the baptism that I am bap- 
tized withal, shall ye be baptized : 



40 But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand, 
is not mine to give ; but it shall lie given to them for 
whom it is prepared. p 

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be much 
displeased with James and John. 

42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto 
them, Ve' know thnt they which arc accounted to rule 



1 James 4:3 m Luke 32 : 60. . . u Matt. 10 ; 25 ; John 17 : 14 o ch. 14 : 36 p Matt. 25 : 34 ; Heb. 11 : 1G q Luke 22 : 25. 



bukes previously administered to the twelve for 
their ambition (Mark 9 : 33-37). 

36-37. James and John. On the charac- 
ter and lives of these apostles, see note on Mat- 
thew, ch. 10, pp. 147-150. They thought the 
kingdom of God would appear immediately 
(Luke io : ii ), and probably expected the immediate 
realization of Christ's promise of kingly honor 
(Matt. 19 : 23). The fact that John united in this 
request does not tally with his traditional char- 
acter, as one, by nature, humble and spiritually 
minded. See Mark 3 : 17, note. Compare this 
prayer with Christ's promises (Matt, is : 10), and 
observe that the denial here of a petition, in 
which two were agreed and which was apparent- 
ly founded upon a faith in Christ as a Messiah, 
whose reign was not distant, constitutes a divine 
limitation of that promise. Comp. James 4 : 3. — 
One on thy right hand and the other on 
thy left. The places of special honor. In Jo- 
sephus (Am. o : ii, o), Jonathan is represented as 
sitting at Saul's right hand and Abner at his left. 
In the Rabbinical books God is represented 
with the Messiah on his right and Abraham 
on his 13ft. Comp. 1 Kings 2 : 19 ; 22 : 19 ; 
Heb. 1 : 13. Observe the promises of the Lord 
are places of trust, power, and activity (Matt. io : 
as ; 25 : 21, 23) ; the request here is simply for 
places of honor. — In thy glory. Compare 
Christ's prayer, whose language is similar, but 
whose spirit how different. John 17 : 5, 24. Ob- 
serve that he asks to participate in the glory of 
the Father after he has finished his work, the 
disciples before they have done theirs. Comp. 
Rom. 2 : 10 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 7, 8. 

38. Ye know not what ye ask. An il- 
lustration this of ignorant, prayer. Within a 
month they saw the places on his right hand and 
his left occupied by the two thieves in the cru- 
cifixion ; and they could not have failed to real- 
ize then the solemn significance of Christ's dec- 
laration and of the question which followed. — 
Are ye able to drink of the cup * * * 
and be baptized with the baptism ? * * 
The cup and the baptism are Scriptural emblems 
of sorrow ; it is not fanciful to regard the first 
as a symbol of inner and spiritual bitterness, the 
second as a symbol of outer persecution and 
trial (isa. 51:22; Matt. 26 : 42 ; 3: ii, note). There ap- 
pears to be here a latent reference to the sacra- 
ments. In that case the cup of the Lord's Sup- 



per must be regarded by the communicant as a 
pledge to share in the sorrows of him who waG in 
travail for the sins of the world, and baptism as 
an admission to the kingdom whose perfected 
glory is the harvest of a sowing of trials and 

tears (Rom 6 : 5-8 ; 2 Tim. 2 : 12). 

39. We can. The language of assurance ; 
but assurance may be of faith or of ignorance ; 
here it is of ignorance. They could say this be- 
cause they knew not what it meant. When the 
Master drank the cup they shared not his sor- 
row, but slept ; when he entered into the bap- 
tism of his Passion they forsook him and fled 
(Mark 14 : 33-37, 50). — Ye shall. "One of these 
brethren was the first of the apostles to drink 
the cup of suffering and he baptized with the 
baptism of blood (Acts 12 : 1, 2) ; the other had the 
longest experience among them of a life of trou- 
ble and persecution." — (Alford.) See Matt. 10, 
pp. 147-150. 

49. But to sit on my right hand and on 
my left hand is not mine to give, but (is 
for those) for whom it is prepared. Mat- 
thew adds, By my Father. This declaration is 
not to be interpreted away by translating it (u/J.u 
ol'c.) except (to those) "for whom it has been pre- 
pared,'''' as Owen and Alford, which is doubtful 
Greek (see Winer, § 53 : 10, and Rob. Lex., art. 
u'/.Ku) • nor by rendering it, "Is not mine to give 
on the ground of private friendship'" (Owen), 
"in an arbitrary way" (James Morison), or, "It 
is not mine to promise now " (Matlluw Henrif, all 
of which are more than doubtful interpreta- 
tions. The spirit of the original is correctly 
rendered by our English version. The works 
which Christ does are done by the power of the 
Father dwelling in him (John 5 : 30 ; 9:4; 10 : 25) ; the 
words which he speaks are his Father's words 
(jobn 14 : io) ; his life is to do his Father's will 
(Luke 2 : 49 ; John 4 : 34) ; the glory he had before the 
foundation of the world he had with the Father 
(John 17 : 5) ; the power of the present and the 
glory of the future he derives from the Father 

(Col. 1 : 19 ; Phil. 2:9; Heb. 1 : 2, 4). So, the place which 

he goes to prepare for his disciples (John 14 : 2), and 
the crown which he will give his followers (2 Tim. 
4 : 8), are given as they have been willed by the Fa- 
ther. In brief, in the final adjudication of 
rewards and punishments, as in all else, Christ 
executes the Father's will. 
41. They began to be much displeased. 



Ch. X.] 



MAEK. 



383 



over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them ; and 
their great ones exercise authority upon them. 

43 But so shall it not be among you: but' whoso- 
ever will be great among you, shall be your minis- 
ter: 

44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall 
be servant of all. 

45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered 
unto, but 9 to minister, and to 1 give his life a ransom 
for many. 

46 And" they came to Jericho : and as he went out 
of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of peo- 

Ele, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the 
ighway side, begging. 

47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, 



he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, tkou Son of Da- 
vid, have mercy on me. 

48 And many charged him that he should hold his 
peace : but he cried the more v a great deal, Thou Son 
of David, have mercy " on me. 

49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be 
called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, 
Be of good comfort, rise : he x calleth thee. 

50 And he, casting 1 away his garment, rose, and 
came to Jesus. 

51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt 
thou that I should do unto thee ? The blind man said 
unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 

52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way ; thy 2 faith 
hath made thee whole. And immediately he received 
his sight, and followed Jesus in the way. 



ch 


9 


35 


Matt. 


20: 


26, 58 


Luke 9 


:48. 


..9 John 13: 14; 


Phil. 


2: 


7... 


t Isa 


53 


:11 


12 


Dan 


9 


26; 


2 Cor. 5 


51 


; Gal. 3 


• 13 


1 Tim 


2 


s ; 


Tit 


2: 14 




Malt. 


20 


29, 


etc. ; 


Luke IS : 36, el 




Je 


: 29 


: 13.. 


.w 


Pa. 


62 


12... 


.X 


John 


11 : 28.. 


Y 


Phil. 3 : 


7-9. 


..z ch. 


5 


34 


; Mutt. 9 


: 22 











































The same spirit of self-seeking which incited the 
request of James and John incited the displeas- 
ure and indignation (Matt. 20 : 54) of the ten. Christ 
rebukes both. 

42-44. But Jesus called them. Their 
controversy had been carried on aside, and apart 
from Jesus. — They which are accounted to 
rule over the Gentiles. "Not equal to, Those 
who ride, which God alone does." — (Alford.) 
Moreover, the apparent are rarely the real rulers. 
— Lord it over them. The original verb, in 
both cases, is compounded with a preposition 
(xutd), which gives a peculiar tone to the lan- 
guage, as of lordship and authority exercised 
over and against the ruled. And this is the essen- 
tial spirit of all despotism, whether civil or eccle- 
siastical. See note below. — But whosoever 
will be great among you. Primarily, in 
the Christian church ; secondarily, in Christian 
communities. — Shall be your servant. The 
word {Siaxovog) properly signifies one who waits 
on guests at a table ; hence it is taken typically 
in the N. T. to signify a preacher and pastor 
(2 Cor. 11 : 23). Here it is not used in the ecclesi- 
astical, but in the more general sense. Great- 
ness is to be achieved in serving, not in com- 
pelling the service of others. — And whosoever 
of you will become first, shall be the 
bondman of all. The original {da-Cln?) never 
signifies hired servant, but always slave. The 
idea conveyed by the metaphor is not, however, 

submission to the authority of others (see on the con- 
trary Matt. 23 : 7-12, notes ; John 8 : 32 ; 1 Cor. 7 : 23 ; Gal. 32 : 5), 

but subserviency to their real interests and needs. 
It is interpreted by the verse succeeding. 

45. For even the Son of man. The Mes- 
siah. See Matt. 10 : 23, note. — Came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister. This is 
still true, and he best serves Christ, not who 
offers him the best service, but who hunger- 
ingly seeks and humbly receives from him the 
most. For illustrative interpretation of this say- 
ing, see Luke 10 : 38-43. — And to give his life 
a ransom for many. It is hardly possible to 



misunderstand the meaning of this metaphor, 
which clearly implies a true sacrificial offering 
by Christ, in order to redeem from sin the souls 
of those that trust in him. Comp. Isaiah 35 : 10 ; 
51 : 10 ; Jer. 31 : 11 ; Hosea 13 : 14 ; 1 Cor. 6 : 20 ; 
Gal. 1:4; Titus 2 : 14 ; 1 Pet. 1 : 18, 19. The 
ransom is offered for all, 1 Tim. 2 : G ; it is effica- 
cious for the many who accept it, the great mul- 
titude, which no man could number, of Rev. 
7 : 9, 10. 

The principles here inculcated (vers. 42 to 45) do 
not forbid classes in society, nor the exercise of 
legitimate authority, by appointed officials in 
church or state. But they do require that all 
apparent rulers shall be the real servants of the 
people, and shall use their place and authority 
as a means of serving others, not of self-aggran- 
dizement. Quesnel's notes on the parallel pas- 
sage, Matt. 20 : 25-28, should be read by those 
who have the opportunity. His deductions con- 
cerning the duty of the clergy, are the more 
noteworthy, because he is a Roman Catholic. 
The clergy are not to lord it over the laity, not 
to assume the air and deportment of secular 
princes ; they are to look upon their office as only 
a service or ministry, to be, in service though 
not in submission, the bondmen of the people, 
and to be always ready to spend and be spent for 

their flocks (John 10 : 11 ; 2 Cor. 12 : 15 ; 1 John 3 : lc). 

46-52. Healing of blind BAKTiMiEUS. 
Matt. 20 : 29-34 ; Luke 18 : 35^4. See notes on 
Luke, where the accounts are compared and the 
variations noted. 

Ch. 11 : 1-11. The triumphant entry 
into Jerusalem. Of this entiy we have four 
accounts. Comp. Matt. 21 : 1-11 ; Luke 19 : 
29-44 ; John 12 : 12-19. See notes on Luke for 
all that is common to the four accounts and for 
a consideration of the probable chronology. 
Two or three details are peculiar to Mark. — 
Straightway he will send him hither. 
There is some uncertainty as to the correct read- 
ing of this phrase. According to Origen, Laeh- 
mann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles, it should 



384 



MARK. 



[Oh. XI. 



CHAPTER XI. 

AND » when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto 
Bethphage, and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, 
he sendeth forth two of his disciples, 

2 And saith unto them, Go your way into the village 
over against you : and as soon as ye be entered into it, 
ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat ; loose 
him, and bring him. 

3 And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this ? 
say ye that the Lord hath need h of him ; and straight- 
way he will send him hither. 

4 And they went their way, and found the colt tied 
by the door without, in a place where two ways met ; 
and they loose him. 

5 And certain of them that stood there said unto 
them, What do ye, loosing the colt ? 

6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had com- 
manded : and they let them go. 

7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their 
garments on him : and c he sat upon him. 

8 And many spread their garments in the way ; and 



others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed 
them in the way. 

9 And they that went before, and they that followed, 
cned, saying, Hosanna ; Blessed d is he that cometh in 
the name of the Lord : 

io Blessed be the kingdom e of our father David, that 
cometh in the name of the Lord : Hosanna in the high- 
est/ 5 

ii And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the 
temple : and s when he had looked round about upon 
all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out 
into Bethany with the twelve. 

12 And " on the morrow, when they were come from 
Bethany, he was hungry : 

13 And seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves, he 
came, if haply he might find anything thereon : and 
when he came to it, he found nothing > but leaves ; for 
the time of figs was not yet. 

14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat 
fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples 
heard it. 



1 Mutt. 21 : 1, etc. ; Luke 19 : 29, etc. ; John 12 : 14, etc....b Acta 17: 25.... c Zech. 9 : 9....d Ps. 118: 26.... e Isa. 9:7; Jer. 33 : 15. 
f Ps. 148: 1 g Zeph. 1 : 12; Ezek. 8:9 h Matt. 21 : 18, etc i Isa. 5 : 7. 



read, Straightway he, i. «., the Lord, will send Mm 
back again. That is, it is a promise to the owner 
of a speedy return of the ass. Alford retains 
our English version, which interprets the words 
as a prophecy to the disciples that the owner 
will send the animal at once on receiving the 
message, "The Lord hath need of him." — 
Where two ways meet. Rather, " iw the 
roundabout way;''' 1 either, as Wordsworth, "in 
the back way which led round the house ; " or, 
as James Morison, "a topographical note that 
could only be given by an eye-witness ; the like- 
lihood is that the village would be straggled 
along a road that deviated from the highway, 
but came round to it again." — Cut down 
branches off the trees. This corresponds 
with the parallel passages in Matthew and John. 
But the best reading here is, " And others twigs, 
having cut them out of the fields.'''' The original 
(cjTifiu;) indicates small twigs, such as are fit 
for a bed or mattress, and might include rushes 
or leaves." — And strawed them in the way. 
This phrase is wanting in the best manuscripts. 
It is borrowed probably from Matthew, and cor- 
rectly describes the facts. Verse 11 is peculiar 
to Mark. Matthew and Luke write as though 
Jesus drove the cattle and dealers out of the 
Temple that same day, though they do not ex- 
plicitly say so. Greswell's supposition is a rea- 
sonable one, that the traders and their effects 
had been removed for the day, but that Christ 
saw the indications of their presence, and, re- 
turning the next day, droye them out as de- 
scribed by the three Evangelists. It would 
appear from this verse and Matt. 31 : 17 and 
Luke 21 : 37, that during the Passion week he 
remained in Jerusalem only by day, spending 
the night either at Bethany, just over the Mount 
of Olives, or on the mount itself. In that cli- 
mate and at that season sleeping in the open air 



was no hardship. Probably two motives con- 
spired to this course : safety from the machina- 
tions of the priest and a desire for quiet for 
devotion, and perhaps for private conferences 
with his disciples, which he could not secure in 
the now oyer-crowded city. 

Oh. 11 ; 12-26. CURSING OF THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 
—CASTING OUT THE TRADERS FROM THE TEMPLE — 
The pratek of faith.— The punishment of FRUIT- 
LESS PROFESSION IS DEATH. — THE CONSECRATION AND 
DESECRATION OF God's TEMPLE : IT IS CONSECRATED 
TO THE USE OF ALL NATIONS ; IT IS DESECRATED WHEN 
PERVERTED TO A MEANS OF PECUNIARY PROFIT. — THE 
PROMISE TO THE PRATER OF FAITH AND ITS CONDITIONS. 

Parallel with this account is Matt. 21 : 12-22 
and Luke 19 : 45-48. Luke does not mention 
the cursing of the fig-tree. 

12-14. Pew passages in the N. T. have given 
rise to more discussion or presented more diffi- 
culties than this incident. The difficulties, and 
what I believe to be the true solution, may be, 
perhaps, best represented by embodying them 
in the form of question and answer. I. How 
can we reconcile Christ's ignorance of the fruitless 
condition of this tree with his divine character ? 
(1. ) It is not stated that he was ignorant of its 
fruitless character, or that he expected to find 
fruit upon it ; only that he went to it as if seek- 
ing for fruit. (2.) He may, however, have been 
ignorant; and this is implied, though not as- 
serted, in this narrative. Por it was a part of his 
voluntary humiliation to subject himself to all 
the ordinary conditions of humanity, and he did 
not use his divine knowledge except for the sake 
of others and in the execution of his divine mis- 
sion. See ch. 13 : 32, note. II. How could he, 
as a reasonable man, have expected fruit if "the 
time of figs was not yet?" This difficulty has 
led to various explanations ; first, to proposed 
emendations of the text, as, " Where he was it 




L e. jiiim, :'.. 



"_My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer ; but ye have 
made it a den of thieves.'' 



Oh. XL] 



MAEK. 



385 



15 And' they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went 
into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold 
and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of 
the moneychangers," and the seats of them that sold 
doves ; 

16 And would not suffer that any man should carry 
any vessel through the temple. 

17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not writ- 



ten, 1 My house shall be called of all nations the house 
of prayer ? but ye have made it a den m of thieves. 

18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and 
sought how they might destroy him : for they feared 
him, because all the people was astonished n at his doc- 
trine. 

19 And when even was come, he went out of the 
city. 



j Matt. 2] ; 12, etc. ; Luke 19 : 45, etc. ; John 2 : 14, etc. . . k Deut. 11 : 35, 26 ... 1 In. 56 : 7 ... m Jer. 7 : 11 . . . n ch. 1 : 22 ; Matt. 7 : 

Luke 1 : 32. 



was the season of figs," or, "Was it not the 
time of figs? " but neither of these are admissi- 
ble ; and, second, to different renderings of the 
present text, as, "It was not a good season for 
figs that year," or, "It was not the harvest sea- 
son for figs," that is, the time for gathering 
them ; hence our Lord might reasonably expect 
to find figs there ; but neither of these accords 
with the facts or with the text. The reader will 
find a compact statement of these and the other 
explanations in Trench's Notes on the Miracles. 
The facts are that figs are produced in Palestine 
at two or even three seasons of the year, viz., the 
end of June, or sometimes a little earlier, the 
middle of August, and the late fall ; the latter 
figs remaining on the tree through the winter. 
But the early fig usually appears before the leaf; 
hence in this case (it was the beginning of April) 
the leaf was precocious, and justified a hope if 
not an expectation of finding precocious fruit, 
and the language here, "If haply he might find 
anything, ' ' indicates that it was only a bare pos- 
sibility which he or his disciples had in mind. 
Mr. Thomson (Land and Book, I, 538) says that 
he has plucked the early figs as early as May on 
the Lebanon, one hundred and fifty miles north 
of Jerusalem ; a warm and sunny spot on the 
slope of the Mount of Olives might have pro- 
duced leaves as early as April on a specially 
early fig-tree. III. Why should Christ have in- 
flicted judgment on the tree, or been angry 
with it for failing to furnish him with fruit? 
Of anger there is not the slightest trace in the 
narrative. This has been invented and imputed 
to Christ by a cavilling criticism. Judgment, in 
the true sense, there was none. For the tree, 
without moral responsibility, was neither guilty 
of sin nor capable of receiving punishment. But 
it was a natural parable of the condition of the 
Jewish nation, and the withering away which 
ensued (ver. 20) was an enacted parable of the 
punishment which divine providence would 
bring upon that nation, which was morally re- 
sponsible for its condition, and morally capable 
of being judged and punished. The act here is 
thus parallel to and interpreted by the parable 
in Luke 13 : 6-9 ; comp. Matt. 3:8; 7 : 16 ; 
21 : 43. " The tree, by its precocious leaves, 
made a pretence of fruitfulness, and thus exactly 
symbolized the Jewish nation, whose sin was 



not so much that it was without fruit, as that 
it boasted of so much." " It (the tree) was pun- 
ished, not for being without fruit, but for pro- 
claiming by the voice of those leaves that it had 
fruit ; not for being barren, but for being false." 
— (Trench.) The present and personal applica- 
tion of this incident is to all those who make a 
fair show of religion, but bring not forth the 
fruits thereof, as Paul describes them in Gal. 
5 : 22, 23. 

15-19. Christ had, at the commencement of 
his ministry, cast the traders out of the Temple. 
That event, described by John (2: 13-17) is not to 
be confounded with the one described here and 
by the other Synoptists. See Matt. 21 : 12, 13, 
note. For description of the Temple, and notes 
on the signification of the cleansing, see on John. 
The part of the Temple occupied by the traders 
was the Court of the Gentiles ; they were thus 
practically excluded from all participation in 
its benefits, since they were not allowed in the 
inner courts. The priests winked at this dese- 
cration, and probably participated in the profits. 
".He would not suffer any vessel to be carried 
through the Temple,' 11 indicates, not a prohibition 
to carry through these outer courts the sacred 
utensils of the Temple proper, but a prohibition 
of the use of the outer court for the purpose of 
a thoroughfare. The word here rendered vessel 
is translated in Matt. 12 : 29 and Mark 3 : 27 
goods, and in Luke 17 : 31 stuff. The references 
in Christ's address which follow are to Isaiah 
56 : 7 and Jer. 7 : 11. The peculiar language 
here, " My house shall be called a house of prayer 
for all nations, 1 ' 1 reported only by Luke and 
mistranslated in our English version, indicates 
that this act was a rebuke, not only of the sacri- 
lege put upon the Temple by converting it into 
a market-place, but also of the Jewish bigotry 
which, by thus using the only part of the Tem- 
ple which was accessible to the Gentiles, ex- 
cluded them from its benefits. The Tem- 
ple was not merely for Jewish worshippers, 
but for all nations. The language, " Ye have 
made it a den of thieves" indicates that it 
was a corrupt and fraudulent traffic which a 
corrupt andfraudulent priesthood had permitted 
to encroach on the worship of God. There is 
scarcely anywhere in the N. T. a more striking 
illustration of the marvellous moral power of 



386 



MARK. 



[Ch. XI. 



20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw 
the fig tree dried up from the roots. 

21 And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto 
him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is 
withered away ! 

22 And Jesus, answering, saith unto him, Have faith 
in God. 

23 For verily, I say unto you, That whosoever ° shall 
say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou 
cast into the sea ; and shall not doubt in his heart, but 
shall believe that those things which he saith shall 
come to pass ; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 

24 Therefore 1 say unto you. What p things soever ye 
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive tkem, and 
ye shall have them. 

25 And when ye stand praying, forgive,' 1 if ye have 
aught against any ; that your Father also which is in 
heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 

26 But ' if ye do not forgive, neither will your Fa- 
ther which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. 

27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and" as he 



was walking in the temple, there come to him the 
chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders, 

28 And say unto him, By 1 what authority doest thou 
these things ? and who gave thee this authority to do 
these things ? 

29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will 
also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will 
tell you by what authority I do these things. 

30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of 
men ? Answer me. 

31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying. If 
we shall say. From heaven ; he will say, Why then 
did ye not believe him ? 

32 But if we shall say, Of men ; they feared the peo- 
ple : for" all men counted John, that he was a prophet 
indeed. 

33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We" 
cannot tell. And Jesus answering, saith unto them, 
Neither do I w tell you by what authority I do these 
things. 



Matt. 17 : 


20 : L11 


ke 17 : 6 


...p Malt. 7 


. 1 


h 


;ke 


11 


:9 ; 


IS : 


1 ; John 14 


13 


15 


: 7 


; 16: 


24 ; Jas. 1 


: 5 


6 




Matt 


6 


14 


Ool 


3: 13 




r Matt, li 


: 35... 


a Matt. 


21 : 23, etc. ; 


1,1 


ke 


20 


: 1 


etc 


. 


Numb. 16 


3.. 


..11 


r.h. 


6 : 20 


; Matt. 3 


5, 


6- 


14: 


5 


v I 


,n. : 


: 3 


29 : 


14 


Jer. 8:7; 


Hos. 4 


:6....w 


Luke 10 : 21, 


22. 











































Christ than this act of his in cleansing the Tem- 
ple, single-handed, of a corruption so entrenched. 
Yet we must not forget that in it he was doubt- 
less supported by the sympathies of the Gentiles 
and the more pious Jews, as well as by the con- 
sciences of the very men who were driven out ; 
and that while the priests winked at the traffic, 
they would hesitate openly to sanction it. 

20,21. Observe that the effect to the fruit- 
tree exceeds the sentence ; that simply con- 
demns it to f ruitlessness. But both in nature and 
in grace fruitlessness always issues in death. 
It is only by and through fruit-bearing that life 
is ever perpetuated. 

22-2G. Have faith in God. Comp. John 
14 : 1 ; Heb. 11 : 6. Here evidently faith in a 
God who is master over nature. It is an exhor- 
tation which in this age of naturalism the church 
needs ever to recall. — To this mount. That 
is, the Mount of Olives, on which they were 
standing ; the language points out a particular 
mountain. — And shall not doubt in his 
heart. Literally, Shall not be at variance with 
himself in his heart. The original (iSiuxqIvui) is 
rendered staggered in Rom. 4 : 20, and wavering in 
James 1 : 6. — But shall have faith that 
those things which he saith shall come 
to pass. Not merely a general faith in God 
or even in prayer, but a faith in God as then 
present and hearing, and in that particular 
prayer as then heard and to be answered. — He 
shall have whatsoever he saith. The words 
Whatsoever he saith are omitted by Tischendorf 
and doubted by Alford. But the omission does 
not materially modify the meaning of the prom- 
ise. — For this reason I say unto you. Be- 
cause the promise of blessing is only to the 
prayer of faith (james i : 6, 7 ; 5 : 15), therefore we 
need to strengthen our faith in the time of 
prayer. — And when ye stand. "To stand is 



the attitude of praying with confidence ; to be 
prostrate, of praying with deprecation." — {Ben- 
gel.) — Forgive if ye have aught against 
any. Comp. Matt. 5 : 23, 24. The connection 
appears to me to be this : Christ's faith had 
wrought itself out in a symbolical condemnation 
of an unfruitful nation. The disciples were to 
imbibe his faith, but not to imitate its exercise. 
Their prayers were to be, not for the punish- 
ment, but for the pardon of offenders. Comp. 
John 9 : 54-56. Only Mark contains verses 25 
and 26 in this connection, and there is some 
doubt as to the authenticity of verse 26. Alford 
retains it ; Tischendorf and Tregelles omit it. 

There is a difficulty in these verses (22-26), 
which probably every reader feels, and which 
the commentaries do not help much to solve. 
No one takes the promise here literally, "He 
shall have whatsoever he saith," and, "Believe 
that ye receive them and ye shall have them. " 
It is true that Christ sometimes taught by hyper- 
boles, but he never employed mere exaggeration 
to produce an effect. I confess, therefore, that 
the largeness of the promise perplexes me ; I 
can only note three facts in partial interpretation 
of it. (1.) The promise is only to him who has 
faith that those things which he saith shall come to 
pass. But this faith must rest on some founda- 
tion. It cannot be a mere baseless expectation. 
The promise, therefore, carries some limitations 
in its terms ; it is made only to such prayers as 
are based on and accord with the revealed will 
of God ; (2) it teaches emphatically that the ben- 
efit of prayer is not wholly a spiritual benefit to 
the one praying, but that it also is efficacious to 
change or modify, by the divine intervention, 
the course of natural phenomena ; (3) it in- 
volved a promise of miracles in answer to prayer 
in the apostolic age, when miracles were needed 
to carry on God's work ; but it involves no such 



Ch. XII.] 



MARK. 



387 



CHAPTER XII. 

AND he began to speak unto them by parables. A* 
certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge 
about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built 
a tower, and lee it out to husbandmen, and went into a 
far country. 

2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a ser- 
vant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of 
the- 1 ' fruit of the vineyard. 

3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him 
away empty. 

4 And again he sent unto them another servant ; and 
at him they cast stones, 2 and wounded him in the head, 
and sent him away shamefully handled. 

5 And again he sent another ; and him they killed, 
and a many others ; beating some, and killing b some. 

6 Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, 
he c sent him also last unto them, saying, They will 
reverence my son. 

7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, 
This is the heir ; come, let us kill him, and the inheri- 
tance shall be ours. 

8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him 
out d of the vineyard. 

9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do ? 
He will come and e destroy the husbandmen, and will f 
give the vineyard unto others. 

io And have ye not read this scripture ; The e stone 
which the builders rejected is become the head of the 
corner : 

n This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in 
our eyes? 

12 And h they sought to lay hold on him, but feared 
the people : for they knew that he had spoken the para- 
ble against them : and they left him, and went their 
way. 

13 And" they send unto him certain of the Pharisees 
and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. 

14 And when they were come, they say unto him, 
Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no 
man : for thou regardest not the person of men, but 
teachest the way of God in truth : Is it lawful to give 
tribute to Caesar, or not? 



15 Shall we give, or shall we not give ? But he, 
knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt 
ye me ? Bring me a penny, that I may see it. 

16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, 
Whose is this image and superscription ? And they 
said unto him, Caesar's. 

17 And Jesus, answering, said unto them, Render to 
Caesar J the things that are Caesar's, and to God" the 
things that are God's. And they marvelled at him. 

18 Then ' come unto him the Sadducees, which say m 
there is no resurrection ; and they ask him, saying, 

19 Master, Moses wrote" unto us, If a man's brother 
die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no chil- 
dren, that his brother ° should take his wife, and raise 
up seed unto his brother. 

20 Now there were seven brethren : and the first 
took a wife, and dying, left no seed. 

21 And the second took her, and died : neither left he 
any seed : and the third likewise. 

22 And the seven had her, and left no seed : last of 
all the woman died also. 

23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, 
whose wife shall she be of them ? for the seven had 
her to wife. 

24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not 
therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, nei- 
ther the power of God ? 

25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they nei- 
ther marry nor are given in marriage ; but ' are as the 
angels which are in heaven. 

26 And as touching the dead, that they rise ; have ye 
not read in the book of Moses, how; in the bush God 

: spake unto him, saying,i I am the God of Abraham, 
and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 

27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the 
living : ye r therefore do greatly err. 

28 And " one of the scribes came, and having heard 
them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had 
answered them well, asked him, Which is the first com- 
mandment of all ? 

29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the com- 
mandments is, 1 Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God is 
one Lord : 



. -. ; Jer. 7 : 25. etc. 
. 17 : 3 g Ps. 118 : 2-2... h ch. 



jc Matt. -21 : 33 ; Luke 20: 9, etc y Cant. 8 : 11 j Micah 7:1; Luke 12 : 48; John 15 : 1-8 z Heb. 11 : 37 a Neh. 9 : 

b Matt. 23 : 37 c Heb. 1:1,2 d Heb. 13 : 12 e Prov. 1 : 24-31 ; Isn. 5:5-7; Dan. 9 : 26 f Je 

11 : 18 ; John 7 : 30. . . .i -Matt. 22 : 15 ; Luke 20 : 20, etc. . . .j Matt. 17 : 25-27 ; Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2 : 17. . . .k Eccl. 5°: 4. 5 ; Mai. 1:6... 

1 Matt. 22 : 23; Luke 20 ; 27, etc m Acts 23 : 8 n Dent. 25 : 5 o Ruth 1 : 11, 13 p 1 Cor. 15 : 42-53 q Exod. 3 : 6. 

24 3 Matt. 22 : 35 t Deut. 6 : 4, 5 ; Luke 10 : 27. 



promise now, since there is no ground on which 
we can base a just expectation that God will 
work miracles in answer to prayer, and cannot, 
therefore, in accordance with the laws of the 
human mind, believe that if v.'e ask for them we 
shall have them. 

27-33. Christ's authority questioned. 
Compare Matt. 21 : 23-27, and Luke 20 : 1-8. The 
accounts are almost verbally identical. See notes 
on Matthew. 

Ch. 12: 1-12. Pahable of the wicked 
husbandman. Narrated, also, in Matt. 21 : 
33-16, and Luke 20 : 9-19. There is no material 
variance in the reports, except that Mark gives 
some details here in verses 4 and 5, not given by 
the others, and their condemnation here ex- 
pressed by Christ (ver. 9) in Matthew, he is repre- 
sented as compelling his auditors to express 
themselves. Both may well be true. For notes, 
see Matthew. 

13- IT. Concerning tribute to C^esae. 
Compare Matt. 22 : 15-22, and Luke 20 : 20-26. 
Luke gives the object of the inquiry of the Phar- 



isees, " That they might take hold of his words, 
that so they might deliver him into the power 
and authority of the government,'' and their 
failure, "They could not take hold of his words." 
Mark puts the question more directly than the 
others : "Shall we give, or shall we not give?" 
Otherwise the accounts are substantially iden- 
tical. See notes on Matthew. 

18-27. The Sadducees silenced. Compare 
Matt. 22 : 23-33, and Luke 20 : 27-40, and notes 
in both places. 

28-34. The gkeat commandment. Peculiar 
to Matt. 22 : 34-40, and Mark here. See notes 
on Matthew. There is a seeming but not real 
discrepancy in their reports. According to Mat- 
thew the scribe asks the question of our Lord, 
" tempting him." Mark's language indicates no 
such hostile purpose, and the scribe's response, 
and Christ's commendation of him (vers. 33, 34), 
have been thought inconsistent with Matthew's 
interpretation of his motives. He may have been 
an honest inquirer whom Matthew classed with 
the other inquirers " without entering into careful 



388 



MARK. 



[Ch. XII. 



30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and 
with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. 

31 And the second is like, na)iiely this, Thou u shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other com- 
mandment greater than these.- 

32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou 
hast said the truth : for there is one God ; and v there 
is none other but he : 

33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all 
the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all 
the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is 
more %v than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 

34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, 
he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom 
of God. And no man after that durst ask him * any 
question. 

35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in 



the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son 
of David ? 1 

36 For David himself said by z the Holy Ghost, The a 
Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I 
make thine enemies thy footstool. 

37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord : and 
whence is he then his son ? And the common people 
heard him gladly. 

38 And he said unto them b in his doctrine, Beware c 
of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and 
love salutations in the market-places, 

39 And d the chief seats in the synagogues, and the 
uppermost rooms at feasts ; 

40 Which devour widows' houses," and for a pretence 
make long prayers : these shall receive greater damna- 
tion. 

41 And r Jesus sat over against the treasury, and be- 
held how the people cast money into the treasury : and 
many that were rich cast in much. 



u Ley. 19 : 18 ; Matt. 22 : 39 ; Rom. 13 : 9 v Deut. 4 : 

it Malt. 22:46....y Malt. 22 : 41 ; Luke 20 : 41, etc. 
23 : 1 ; Luke 20 : 46, etc d Luke 11 : 43 ...e 2 Tim. 



I ; Isa. 45 : 5, 6, 14 ; 46 : 9. . . 
.z 2 Sara. 23 : 2 j 2 Tim. 
6 f Luke 21 : 1, etc. 



w 1 Sam. 15 : 
i: 16. ...a Ps. 



Hosea 6:6; 
: 1 b ch. 



Micah 6 : 6-8. . . . 
4 : 2 Mull. 



and accurate discrimination" (Alford) ; but this 
is not a necessary hypothesis. He may have been 
a caviller, not a disciple, and yet not so encased 
in prejudice but that he could appreciate the 
force of Christ's simple but eloquent response, 
and acknowledge its truth and beauty. On ver. 
34, Alford's comment is worthy of study by those 
who are inclined to regard obedience, not faith, as 
the root and foundation of a religious life. 
"This man had hold of that principle in which 
Law and Gospel are one. He stood, as it were, 
at the door of the kingdom of God. He only 
wanted (but the want was indeed a serious one) 
repentance and faith to be within it. The Lord 
shows us here that even outside his flock those 
who can answer discreetly, who have knowledge 
of the spirit of the great command of Law and 
Gospel, are nearer to being of his flock than the 
formalists ; but then as Bengel adds, ' If thou 
art not far off, enter ;;■" otherwise it were better 
that thou wert far off.' ' ' ' Comp. Matt. 19 : 16-22. 

35-37. The Pharisees baffled. See notes 
on parallel passage in Matt. 22 : 41^16. Observe 
in verse 36, here, Christ's testimony to the inspi- 
ration of the O. T. Scripture, and in verse 37, 
Mark's account of the effect of Christ's teaching 
on the common people, they " heard him gladly; " 
while accordingto Matthew (22 : 46) the Pharisees 
and Scribes were confounded by it. Perhaps the 
common people were not sorry to see their auto- 
cratic teachers put to confusion. 

38-40. Denunciation of the Scribes. 
Mark's language here, " And he said unto them 
in his teaching," indicates that these verses are 
only a quotation from a longer discourse. Such 
is the fact. The discourse occupies the whole 
of Matt., ch. 23. The verses here and in Luke 
20 : 45-47 are parallel to Matt. 23 : 5, 6, 14. See 
notes there. The language here "love to go in 
long clothing " answers to " enlarge the borders 
of their garments," in Matthew. The "long 
clothing"(Gr. aroXr„ stole) was a long, flowing robe 



reaching to the feet, and worn by king and 
priests, and by the scribes, probably as a symbol 
of sanctity, and as a means of attracting atten- 
tion and securing the reverence of the common 
people. The holy garments of Aaron, Exod. 28 : 
2, and the white " robes " of Rev. 7 : 13, are both 
in the Greek "stoles," the same word here ren- 
dered "long clothing." Observe that here are 
condemned, (1) the spirit that is more scrupulous 
concerning the outward ceremonials than the in- 
ward spirit of religion (ver. 38) ; (2) that which 
covets the praise of men more than honor from 

God (ver. 38 ; comp. Matt. 6 : 1-5, 16-18) ; (3) Social pride 
and Vain-glory (ver. 39 ; comp. Luke 14 : 7-ll) ; (4) the 

concealment of practical selfishness by a pre- 
tence Of piety (ver. 40 ; comp. Isaiah 1 : 10-15). 

Ch. 12 : 41-44. THE WIDOW'S MITES.— A rebuke to 

THE PROUD RICH ; AX INSPIRATION TO THE HUMBLE 
POOR. 

This incident is recorded only by Mark and 
Luke (21 : 1-4). The report is fuller here. The 
time and occasion are uncertain ; there is, how- 
ever, no especial reason to doubt that it occurred 
at this time and in conjunction with the discourse 
against the Scribes and Pharisees. 

41-42. And Jesus was sitting over 
against the treasury. What this treasury was, 
is uncertain. According to the Mishna there were 
in the Temple thirteen treasure chests for the re- 
ception of gifts of money, to be devoted to so 
many special purposes, designated by the in- 
scriptions upon them. These chests were called 
"trumpets," probably from the shape of the open- 
ings into which the contributions were dropped. 
To such a chest there is a reference in 2 Kings 12 : 
9, 10 ; comp. 22 . 4, 5. Posssibly the reference is 
to these chests. It is, however, clear from John 
8 : 20 that there was a room in the Temple called 
the treasury. To such a room Josephus refers 
in Antiq. 19 : 6, 1. That there were side-rooms of 
the Temple used for receiving and keeping the 



Ch. XIII.] 



MARK. 



389 



42 And there came a certain poor widow and she 
threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 

43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith 
unto them, Verily I say unto you, That s this poor 
widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast 
into the treasury : 

44 For all they did cast in of their abundance : h but 
she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all' 
her living. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

A ND-i as he went out of the temple, one of his disci- 
Jr\ pies saith unto him, Master, see what manner of 
stones and what buildings are here I 

2 And Jesus, answering, said unto him, Seest thou 
these great buildings ? there k shall not be left one stone 
upon another, that shall not be thrown down. 

3 And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, over 
against the temple, Peter and James and John and An- 
drew asked him privately, 

4 Tell us, when shall these things be ? and what 
shall be the sign when all these things shall be ful- 
filled? 



5 And Jesus, answering them, began to say, Take ' 
heed less any man deceive you : 

6 For many shall come m in my name, saying, I am 
Christ ; and shall deceive many. 

7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of 
wars, be " ye not troubled : for such things must needs 
be ; but the end shall not be yet. 

8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom 
against kingdom ; and there shall be earthquakes in 
divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles : 
these are the beginnings of sorrows. 

9 But take heed to yourselves : for they shall ° de- 
liver you up to councils ; and in the synagogues ye 
shall be beaten ; and ye shall be brought before rulers 
and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. 

10 And p the gospel must first be published among 
all nations. 

11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, 
take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, nei- 
ther do ye premeditate ; but whatsoever shall be given 
you in that hour, that speak ye : for it is not ye that 
speak, but 1 the Holy Ghost. 



g 2 Cor. 8 : 2, 12 hi Chron. 29 : 3, 17 ; 2 Chron. 24 : 10. . . .i Dent. 24 : 6....J Mutt. 24: 1, etc. ; Luke 21 : 5, etc k Luke 19 : 44.... 1 Jer. 

29 : 8 ; Enh. 5 : 6 j 2 Theas. 2:3; Rev. 20 : 7, 8. . . .m Acts 5 : 36-39 ; 1 Juliu 4 : 1 . . . .n Ps. 27 : 3 ; 46 : 1, 2 ; Prov. 3 : 25 ; Jobu 14 : 1, 27. . . . 
o Matt 10 : 17, etc.; Rev. 2 : 10 p Matt. 28 : 19; Rev. 14 : 6....q Acts 2 : 4; 4 : 8, 31 ; 6 : 10. 




TREASURY BOXES. 

tithes, both in money and kind, is evident from 
Neh. 10 : 38, 39 ; 1 Chron. 28 : 11, 12. I judge 
the reference here to be to this treasury chamber, 
in which, perhaps, Christ was teaching at the 
time, and in which possibly the treasure chests 
referred to in the Mishna, may have been kept. 
Our illustration shows the treasury boxes used 
in the East in the synagogues. — Was watching 
how the people cast money into the treas- 
ury. The original indicates that he was pur- 
posely observing the people, studying their action 
and characters ; a hint to the preacher how to get 
both subjects for discourse, and knowledge how 
to treat those subjects. Christ still keeps like 
watch in his church. See Rev. 1 : 13. — Two 
mites. The mite was the least Jewish coin, 
about equivalent to two mills of our money. 
Observe, she had too; she might have retained 
one. 



43. Calling his disciples. To direct their 
attention to this woman and to emphasize the 
lesson which he wished to inculcate. — This 
poor woman hath cast more in. Because 
God reckons not according to the gift, but ac- 
cording to the giver ; not according to the value 
of that which is bestowed, but according to the 
self-sacrifice in the bestowal. Compare 2 Cor. 
8 :12. 

Ch. 13. Christ's discourse on the Last 
Days. This discourse is reported also in Matt, 
ch. 24, and Luke 21 : 5-38. For the analysis of 
this discourse, its general lessons, and all that is 
common in the three accounts, see notes on Mat- 
thew. Here I call the attention of the student 
only to phraseologies peculiar to Mark. 

1,2. The language here is more dramatic 
than in Matthew, and more expressive of the 
admiration of the disciples for the Temple struc- 
ture. Matthew brings before us most vividly 
the structure itself : " His disciples came for to 
show him all the buildings of the Temple ; " 
Mark, the substantial materials employed in the 
structure: "What manner of stones and what 
manner of buildings ; " Luke, the ornaments and 
offerings: "How it was adorned with goodly 
stones and gifts." 

3. Peter etc. asked him privately. This 
may either mean apart from the multitude, but 
in the presence of the rest of the disciples 
(James Morison), or apart from the other disci- 
ples, and in a purely private conference {Lamje). 
The language rather implies the latter ; the full- 
ness of Matthew's report indicates, however, 
that he was present. 

5-8. The language here is almost verbally 
identical with Matt. 24 : 3-8. Luke's language 
(21 : 8-11 ) differs only in one or two respects. 

9-11. These yerses are not in Matthew. But 



390 



MAEK. 



[Ch. XIII. 



12 Now the brother' shall betray the brother to 
death, and the father the son : and children shall rise 
up against their parents, and shall cause them to be 
put to death. 

13 And ye shall be hated 9 of all men for my name's 
sake : but he ' that shall endure unto the end, the same 
shall be saved. 

14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desola- 
tion, spoken of" by Daniel the prophet, standing where 
it ought not, (let him that readeth understand), then let 
them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains : 

15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down 
into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing 
out of his house. 

16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again 
for to take up his garment. 

17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them 
that give suck in those days ! 

18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. 

19 For v in those days shall be affliction, such as was 
not from the beginning of the creation which God cre- 
ated unto this time, neither shall be. 

20 And except that the Lord had shortened those 
days, no flesh should be saved : but for the elect's 
sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. 

21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, w here is 
Christ; or, Lo, he is there : believe him not: 

22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and 



shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were pos- 
sible, even the elect. 

23 But * take ye heed ; behold, I have foretold you 
all things. 

24 But in those days, after that tribulation,* the sun 
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her 
light, 

25 And z the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers 
that are in heaven shall be shaken. 

26 And a then shall they see the Son of man coming 
in the clouds, with great power and glory. 

27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall 
gather together his elect from the four winds, from the 
uttermost part of the earth, to the lattermost part of 
heaven. 

28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree ; When her 
branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know 
that summer is near. 

29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these 
things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the 
doors. 

30 Verily, I say unto you, that this generation shall 
not pass, till all these things be done. 

31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but b my 
words shall not pass away. 

32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, 
no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the 
Son, but the Father. 



Micah7: 6.... 8 Luke 6 ; 22; John 17 : 14.... t Dan. 12 : 12; Rev. 2: 10.... 11 Dun. 9 : 27.... v Dan. 12 : 1 ; Joel 2 ; 2.... w Luke 17 ; 23 

x 2 Pet. 3 : 17.... v Dan. 12 : 1 ; Zepl). 1 : 15-17 z Isa. 13 : 10; 24 : 20, 23 ; Jer. 4 : 28 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 10, 12; Rev. 6 : 12-14; 20 ; 11 a 

14: 62: Dan. 7 ; 9^14; Matt. 16 : 27 ; 24 : 30 ; Acts 1 ; 11 ; 1 Tliess. 4 : 1G; 2 Thess. 1 : 7 : 10; Rev. 1 : 7....blsa. 40 : 8. 



analogous warnings and instructions are embodied 
in Christ's first commission to the twelve. See 
Matt. 10 : 18-20, notes. — Take heed to your- 
selves. Not as a means of escaping from perse- 
cution, but as a means of preparing for it, as 
Christ bade Peter take heed against temptation 
(Matt. 26 : 41). — They shall deliver you up to 
councils. Jewish courts. There were, besides 
the one national council or Sanhedrim (p. 258, note), 
smaller councils organized in all the principal 
towns. — But when they shall lead you and 
deliver you up, be not anxious before- 
hand. The original verb here ().ieQtuvda>), is the 
same as that translated in Matt. 6 : 25 ; 10 : 19, 
"take no thought." It does not forbid fore- 
thought, but an anxious and troubled spirit. 
— Neither premeditate. A mistranslation ; 
rather, Do not prepare your speech beforehand, 
(see on Luke 21 : i4). — Ye who speak are noth- 
ing, but the Holy Spirit. " The Greek is not 
susceptible of the translation in our English 
version. The contrast is between ' ye speaking ' 
and ' the Holy Spirit.' The Holy Spirit is every- 
thing. Everything depends on Him, not on you." 
—(Crosby.) Observe that this direction affords 
no countenance whatever to preaching the truth 
without previous preparation. It is simply a 
warning against allowing the mind to be divided 
in time of danger, between the desire of personal 
safety and the desire to be faithful to the truth. 
Christ exemplifies his own directions in his course 
before Pilate and Caiaphas (Matt. 26 : 64 ; John 18 : 37). 
His direction is here enforced by promises which 
Luke alone records (Luke 21 ; 15, is) ; and it is less a 
caution for their personal protection, than an 
admonition to prevent them from proving false 



to the truth, through self-reliance and lack of 
trust in God. 

12, 13. This warning is parallel to that of 
Matt. 24 : 9, but is more specific. It interprets 
Christ's repeated declaration that those who love 
father or mother more than him, are not worthy 
of him. It has been abundantly verified in the 
history of religious persecution ; and this history 
illustrates the power for evil of a depraved eon- 
science ; it overcomes even natural affection. 

14-23. The language here is almost verbally 
the same with that of Matthew (24 : 15-25). Luke 
is less full, but gives some directions and some 
details of the sufferings, during the prophesied 
period, not found in either Matthew or Mark. 

24-31. The language of these verses is nearly 
parallel to that of Matt. 24 : 29-35.— In these 
days signifies not the days of the destruction of 
Jerusalem, but the days of peril and persecution, 
the tribulation and travail (ver. 8) which must in- 
tervene between the death and the future final 
coming of Christ. Of this travail the destruction 
of Jerusalem is only a part. See Prel. Note to 
Matthew, ch. 24, and note on verse 29 there. 

32. How to reconcile this declaration with the 
ordinary theological doctrines concerning the 
divinity of Jesus Christ, has greatly perplexed 
orthodox commentators. The following are the 
chief interpretations offered: (1.) That it is an 
addition by later heretical hands (Adam Clarke). 
But there is no reason to doubt its genuineness ; 
it is in all the manuscripts, and in the three oldest 
manuscripts in the parallel passage in Matt. 
24 : 36. It is more probable that the copyists 
expunged it there. (2.) That the word know here 
is equivalent to does not make known (MacKnlfjht, 



Ch. XIV.] 



MAEK. 



391 



33 Take c ye heed, watch and pray : for ye know not 
when the time is. 

34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far 
journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his 
servants, and to every man his work, and commanded 
the porter to watch. 

35 Watch ye therefore ; for ye know not when the 
master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or 
at the cock-crowing, or in the morning ; 

36 Lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping." 1 

37 And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch. e 

CHAPTER XIV. 

AFTER two days was the feast of the passover, and 
of unleavened bread : and the chief priests and 
the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, 
and put him to death. 

2 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be 
an uproar of the people. 

3 And f being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the 



leper, as he eat at meat, there came a woman having 
an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very pre- 
cious ; and she brake the box, and poured it on his 
head. 

4 And there were some that had indignation within 
themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the oint- 
ment made ? 

5 For it might have been sold for more than three 
hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. 
And they murmured against her. 

6 And Jesus said, JLet her alone : why trouble ye 
her ? she hath wrought a good work on me. 

7 For? ye have the poor with you always, and 
whensoever ye will ye may do them good : but me ye 
have not always. 

8 She hath done what she could : she is come afore- 
hand to anoint my body to the burying. 

9 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel 
shall be preached throughout the whole world, this 
also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a me- 
morial of her. 



Matt. 24: 42; 25: 13: Luke 12 : 40; 21 : 34; Rom. 13: 11, 12; 1 Thess. 5:6; Rev. 16: 16.... d Matt. 25:5....e vers. 33, 35.. 
f Matt. 26 : 6, etc. ; Luke 7 : 37 ; John 12 : 1, etc g Deut. 15 : 11. 



Wordsworth, and others), and 1 Cor. 2 : 2 is cited 
as an evidence that the original is capable of 
such a translation. But the original (old u) never 
signifies to make known, and 1 Cor. 2 : 2 does 
not sustain such a translation, which wrests the 
language of Scripture to adapt it to theology. 
(3.) That Christ knew the day, but that "the 
knowledge was not lodged with him for the pur- 
pose of being communicated to man " (Kenrick, 
Chrysostom). But this again is not what Christ 
says, and true reverence for his teaching will 
accept his statements in humility, not interpret 
them away in order to reconcile them with a sup- 
posed reverence for his person ; moreover, the 
idea that knowledge was " lodged with him " is 
no more congruous with the idea of his divinity 
than his own declaration of ignorance. (4.) That 
he knew as God, but not as man. This is the 
most common interpretation, and is presented in 
different forms by Bengel, Barnes, Owen, James 
Morison, and others. We have, however, no 
authority in the Gospels for drawing a metaphys- 
ical line in Christ's nature, and saying that 
certain things he did as man, and certain things 
as God. He is always represented as one, and as 
doing all things as the one God-man. (5.) I un- 
derstand Christ literally, as do Calvin, Meyer, 
Stier, Alford and Alexander. He did not know, 
in the same sense in which men and angels do not 
know. In his voluntary humiliation, in taking 
upon him the form of a servant (pmi. 2 : 6-s), he 
laid aside, not only external glory, but also 
knowledge and power (Matt. 20 : 23 ; Mark 10 : 40). The 
declaration of ignorance here is no more inexpli- 
cable than the declaration that he grew in 
wisdom (Luke 2 : 52), learned obedience (Het>. 5 : s), 
marveled (Matt, s -. 10, note), was tempted (Matt. 4 : 1-11 ; 
Prei. Note, § 6, p. 75), uttered desires in prayer (Luke 
6 : 12, etc). Any theory of Christ which denies, or 
interprets away these and similar significant 
declarations of the limitations of his nature, is 



unscriptural. It were better frankly to concede, 
that in the mystery of his being, the full inter- 
pretation of them is hidden from us, than to 
make them clear by denying their force and 
meaning. The practical lesson of the verse is 
well put by Dr. Schaff: " His voluntarily not 
knowing the day of judgment during the days 
of His flesh, is a warning against chronological 
curiosity and mathematical calculations in the 
exposition of Scripture prophecy. It is not likely 
that any theologian, however learned, should 
know more or ought to know more on this point 
than Christ himself, who will judge the quick 
and the dead, chose to know in the state of His 
humiliation." 

33-37. Parallel to this is Matt. 24 : 42-51. 
See notes there. It is a briefer report, but not a 
condensation. The independence of the two 
writers is evident from a careful comparison of 
them in the original. And this may be with 
equal truth said of the two accounts of this dis- 
course throughout. The verbal differences are 
just such as would characterize two reports of 
the same discourse by different hearers. " The 
porter is the door-keeper (John 18 : 16, note), whose 
office it would be to look out for approaching 
travelers, answering especially to ministers of the 
word (Ezek. ch. 33), watchmen to God's church." — 
(Alford.) The four watches here mentioned 
are those into which the Jews, after the Roman 
supremacy, and following the Romans, divided 
the night. The first or evening lasted till 9 p. m., 
the second till midnight, the third till the early 
cock-crowing, or 3 P. M., the fourth till about 
sunrise, or 6 A. m. The language here is some- 
what indefinite, but is that of the common people. 

Ch. 14 : 1-9. The anointing at Bethany. 
Recorded also by Matt. 26 : 6-16, and John 12 : 
1-8. It is not to be confounded with the analo- 
gous incident recorded in Luke 7 : 36-50. The 
time of its occurrence is not certain, whether 



392 



MAEK. 



[Oh. XIV 



10 And h Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto 
the chief priests, to betray 1 him unto them. 
ii And when they heard it, they were glad, and 

Eromised to give him' money. And he sought how 
e might conveniently betray him. 

12 And the first day ol k unleavened bread, when 
they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, 
Where wilt thou that we go and prepare, that thou 
mayest eat the passover ? 

13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and 
saith unto them, Go 1 ye into the city, and there shall 
meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow 
him. 

14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the 
goodman of the house, The Master m saith, Where is 
the guest-chamber, where I shall eat" the passover 
with my disciples ? 

15 And he will shew you a large upper room fur- 
nished and prepared : there make ready for us. 

16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the 
city, and found " as he had said unto them : and they 
made ready the passover. 

17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve. 

18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I 
say unto you, One of you which eatethP with me shall 
betray me. 

19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto 
him one by one. Is it I ? and another said, Is it I ? 

20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one 
of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish. 



21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of 
him : but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is 
betrayed ! goodi were it for that man if he had never 
been born. 

22 And r as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and 
blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, 
Take, 8 eat ; this is my body. 

23 And he took the cup ; and when he had given 
thanks, he gave it to them : and they all drank of it. 

24 And he said unto them, This ' is my blood of the 
new testament, which is shed for many. 

25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the 
fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it" new in 
the kingdom of God. 

26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out 
into the Mount of Olives. 

27 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be of- 
fended because of me this night: for it is writ- 
ten^ I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be 
scattered. 

28 But™ after that I am risen, I will go before you 
into Galilee. 

29 But * Peter said unto him, Although all shall be 
offended, yet will not I. 

30 And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee. 
That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow 
twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 

31 But he spake the more vehemently, If I should 
die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Like- 
wise also said they all. 



h Matt. 26 : 14, etc. ; Luke 22 : 3, etc i John 13 : 2 j 1 Kings 21 : 20 ; Prov. 

m John 11 : 28 ; 13 : 13.... n Eev. 3 : 20 o John 16 : 4....» Ps. 41 : t 

Luke 22 : 111 ; 1 Cor. II : 23, etc a John 6 : 48-58 t 1 Cor. 10 : 16 ; Joh 

w ch. 16 : 7....X Matt. 26 : 33, 34 ; Luke 22 : 33, 34 j John 13 : 37, 38. 



: 10-16.... k Exod. 12 : 8, eto....l ch. 11 : 2, 3 ; Heb. 4 : 13. 

55 : 13, 14 q Mntt. 18 : 6, 1 r Matt. 26 : 26, etc. ; 

6 : 53 u Joel 3 : 18 : Amois9 ; 13, 14... v Zech. 13 : 7 



two days or six days "before the Passover. Com- 
pare John, and note on Matthew. Bethany was a 
village about two miles east of Jerusalem, on the 
eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, and the 
supper was given in the house of Mary and 
Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. Of the Simon 
here mentioned nothing is known ; it is conjec- 
tured that he was the father of the two sisters, 
or the husband of one of them. He is not men- 
tioned in the other accounts of the family, from 
which it is presumed that he was not living. 
The 300 pence {denarii) mentioned in verse 5, was 
a sum equal to about $54 ; but as one penny was 
a day's wages, we may regard it as equivalent to 
at least $300. See Matt. 20 : 2, note. On the 
entire incident, see notes on Matthew and John, 
especially the latter. 

10, II. The treachery of Judas Iscariot. 
See Matt. 26 : 14-16, notes ; and on the character 
of Judas, Matt. 27 : 3-10, p. 305. 

12-16. Preparation tor the Passover. 
Compare Matt. 26 : 17-19, and Luke 22 : 7-13. 
For notes, see Luke. For chronological order of 
the events of this evening, see Matt. 24 : 1. The 
omission of the names of the two disciples sent 
by Christ, Peter and John, Alford regards as an 
indication that this Gospel was not drawn up 
under the superintendence of Peter. But why, 
any more than John's habitual omission of his 
own name from his Gospel indicates that he is 
not its author ? 

17-21. Prophecy of the betrayal. Com- 
pare Matt. 26 : 21-25; Luke 22 : 21-23; John 



13 : 21-35. For notes, see Matthew and John ; 
the latter's account is much the fullest. 

22-26. Institution of the Lord's Supper. 
Compare Matt. 26 : 26-29 ; Luke 22 : 19-21 ; 1 Cor. 
11 : 23-25. John does not mention the Lord's 
Supper. See notes on Matthew. The language 
of ver. 23, "They all drank of it," does not prove 
that Judas participated in the supper. The all 
that were present are intended. 

27-31. Prophecy of Peter's denial. See 
Matt. 26 : 31-35, and Luke 22 : 31-38, notes. The 
warning reported here, and in Matthew, was 
given immediately after the Lord's Supper, ap- 
parently on the way to the Mount of Olives ; 
that reported in Luke and John (12 : 36-ss), was 
given previous to the supper. 

32-42. Christ's agony in Gethsemane. 
Recorded also in Matthew 26 : 36^6, and Luke 
22 : 40-46. Matthew's account is the fullest, 
though Luke alone mentions the bloody sweat 
and the appearance of an angel from heaven 
strengthening Christ. See notes on Matthew. 
The phrase " sore amazed " (ver. 33), is peculiar 
to Mark, and implies that the experience of sor- 
row, however it is to be interpreted, came upon 
Christ, if not literally as a surprise, at least with 
new and unexpected force; " the hour " (ver. 35), 
is equivalent to the cup in the next verse, and 
refers to the approaching Passion, with all its 
accumulation of physical and mental anguish ; 
the language of ver. 40, '■'■and spake the same 
words," appears to describe more accurately the 
third than the second prayer. Matthew notices 



Oh. XIV.] 



MARK. 



393 



32 And y they came to a place which was named 
Gethsemane : and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, 
while I shall pray. 

33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and 
John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very 
heavy ; 

34 And saith unto them, My z soul is exceeding sor- 
rowful unto death : tarry ye here ; and watch. 

35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the 
ground, and prayed a that, if it were possible, the hour 
might pass from him. 

36 And he said," Abba, Father, all things are possi- 
ble unto thee ; take away this cup from me : neverthe- 
less c not what I will, but what thou wilt. 

37 And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and 
saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou ? couldest not 
thou watch one hour ? 

38 Watch ye, and pray, lest ye enter into tempta- 
tion. The d spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak. 

39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spake 
the same words. 

40 And when he returned, he found them asleep 
again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they 
what to answer him. 

41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto 
them. Sleep on noWj and take your rest : it is enough, 
the hour is come : behold, the Son of man is betrayed 
into the hands of sinners. 

42 Rise up, let us go ; lo, he that betrayeth me is at 
hand. 

43 And f immediately, while he yet spake, cometh 
Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multi- 
tude e with swords and staves, from the chief priests' 1 
and the scribes and the elders. 

44 And he that betrayed him had given them a to- 
ken, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, 1 that same is he : 
take him, and lead him away safely. 

45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway 
to him, and saith, Master,' master : and kissed him. 

46 And they laid their hands on him, and took him. 

47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and 
smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 

48 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye 



come out, as against a thief, with swords and -with 
staves to take me ? 

49 I was daily with you in the temple, teaching, and 
ye took me not : but the scriptures' 1 must be fulfilled. 

50 And ' they all forsook him, and fled. 

51 And there followed him a certain young man, 
having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and 
the young men laid hold on him : 

52 And he left" 1 the linen cloth, and fled from^them 
naked. 

53 And n they led Jesus away to the high priest : and 
with him were assembled all the chief priests and the 
elders and the scribes. 

54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the 
palace of the high priest : and he sat with the servants, 
and warmed himself at the fire. 

55 And the chief priests and all the council sought for 
witness against Jesus to put him to death ; and found 
none. 

56 For ° many bare false witness against him, but 
their witness agreed not together. 

57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness 
against him, saying, 

58 We heard him say, I will destroy p this temple 
that is made with hands, and within three days I will 
build another made without hands. 

59 But neither so did their witness agree together. 

60 And 1 the high priest stood up in the midst, and 
asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing ? What 
is it which these witness against thee ? 

61 But he r held his peace, and answered nothing. 
Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, 
Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed ? 

62 And Jesus said, I am : and ye 3 shall see the Son 
of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming 
in the clouds of heaven. 

63 Then the high priest rent l his clothes, and saith, 
What need we any further witnesses ? 

64 Ye have heard the blasphemy : what think ye t 
And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. 

63 And some began to spit u on him, and to cover his 
face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy : 
and the servants did strike him with the palms of their 
hands. 



y Matt. 26 : 36, etc. ; Luke 22 : 39, ete. ; 
Jolm 4 : 34 j 6 : 30 ; 6 : 38, 39 ; 18 : 
26 : 47 ; Luke 22 : 47, etc. ; John 18 : 

6: 46 k Ps. 22 : 1, etc.: Isa. 53 : 3, etc 

22 : 54, etc. ; John 18 : 13, etc. . . u Pi 



.s Dan. 7 : 13 ; Matt. 24 : 



Joun 18 : 1, etc z John 12 : 27 a Heb. 5:7.... b Kom. 8 : 15 ; Gal. 4:6 c Ps. 40 : 8 ; 

11 ; Phil. 2 : 8 d Rom. 7 : 18-25 ; Gal. 6 : 17.... e John 7 : 30; 8 : 20 ; 13 : 1 f Matt. 

3, etc g Ps. 3 : 1, 2 h Ps. 2 : 2 i 2 Sam. 20 : 9 ; Ps. 55 : 21 ; Prov. 27 : 6 j Luke 

.; Luke 24: 44....1 ver. 27 ; Ps. 88 : 8; Isa. 63 : 3 in ch. 13 : 16. .. .n Matt. 26 : 57, etc. ; Luke 

p ch. 15:29; John 2 : 19. ...q Matt. 26 : 62, etc. . . r Ps. 39 : 9 ; Isa. 63 : 7 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 23. 



26 : 64; Luke 22 : 69 ; Rev. 1 : 7 t Isa. 37 : 1 u ch. 15 : 19; Isa. 50 : 1 



a difference between the first and second prayers. 
Compare Matt. 26 : 39 with 43, and see note on 
ver. 42. 

43-52. The betrayal and arrest of Jesus. 
Compare Matt. 26 : 47-56 ; Luke 23 : 47-53 ; John 
18 : 1-12. See notes on Matthew and John. The 
language of ver. 44 is rather "lead him away 
securely," and implies a fear of resistance, rescue, 
or flight ; see Matt. 26 : 48, note. Mark alone 
mentions the young man in ver. 51. Nothing 
else is known concerning him. Conjectures have 
been busy, but are valueless. The incident ap- 
pears to be introduced to show the wanton char- 
acter of the motley crowd that arrested Jesus, 
and to set forth more strongly the remarkable 
escape of the disciples from arrest. The linen 
cloth (sindon, aivSuiv), was hardly, as Mr. Barnes, 
a part of the bed-clothes, rather a night-dress, 
answering to our own analogous night apparel. 

53-65. Trial of Jesus before Caiaphas 
and the Council. Of this, which I believe to 
be the formal trial of Christ before the Sanhe- 



drim, there are two other accounts, viz., Matt. 
26 : 57-68 ; Luke 22 : 63-71. John narrates only 
the preliminary hearing before Caiaphas (ch. 18 : 
13-27). On the apparent discrepancies in these 
accounts, see Matt. 26 : 57-68, Prel. Note. Mark's 
account is nearly identical with Matthew's. See 
throughout notes there. 

66-72. Peter's denial of our Lord. These 
are narrated by all four Evangelists : Matt. 26 : 
69-75 ; Luke 22 : 54-62 ; John 18 : 15-17, 25-27. 
For a comparison of these accounts, their dis- 
crepancies, and their harmony, and for the gen- 
eral lessons of the incident, see notes on Matt. 
26 : 69-75. — Beneath in the courtyard. 
That is, beneath the room in which the exami- 
nation of Christ was going on. This, probably, 
opened upon the courtyard and was raised above 
it. — Warming himself. At a Are kindled in 
the courtyard, probably in a brazier (John is : 18, 
note). — She looked upon him. Earnestly (Luke 
22:56); studying his countenance. — Neither 
understand I what thou sayest. Not to be 



394 



MAEK. 



[Ch. XV. 



66 And v as Peter was beneath in the palace, there 
cometh one of the maids of the high priest : 

67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she 
looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with 
Jesus of Nazareth. 

68 But he denied, saying, " I know not, neither un- 
derstand I what thou sayest. And he went out into 
the porch ; and the cock crew. 

69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to 
them that stood by, This is one of them. 

70 And he denied it again. And a little after, they 
that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one 
of them ; for thou art a Galilaean,* and thy speech 
agreeth thereto. 

71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I 
know not this man of whom ye speak. 

72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter 
called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Be- 
fore the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. 
And when he thought thereon, he wept.y 

CHAPTER XV. 

AND straightway in the morning the chief priests 
held a consultation z with the elders and scribes 
and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried 
him away, and delivered him to Pilate. 

2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the 
Jews ? And he, answering, said unto him, Thou 
sayest it. 

3 And the chief priests accused him of many things : 
but he answered nothing. 

4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest 
thou nothing ? Behold how many things they witness 
against thee. 

5 But Jesus a yet answered nothing ; so that Pilate 
marvelled. 



6 Now " at that feast he released unto them one pris- 
oner, whomsoever they desired. 

7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay 
bound with them that had made insurrection with him, 
who had committed murder in the insurrection. 

8 And the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire 
him to do as he had ever done unto them. 

9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I 
release unto you the King of the Jews? 

10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered 
him for envy. 

11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he 
should rather release d Barabbas unto them. 

12 And Pilate answered, and said again unto them, 
What will ye then that I shall do unto hint whom ye 
call the King e of the Jews ? 

13 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 

14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil r hath 
he done ? And they cried out the more exceedingly, 
Crucify him. 

15 Aud so Pilate, willing to content the people, re- 
leased Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when 
he had scourged him, to be crucified. 

16 And the s soldiers led him away into the hall 
called Prsetorium ; and they call together the whole 
band. 

17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a 
crown of thorns, and put it about his head ; 

18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews ! 

19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and 
did spit h upon him, and bowing their knees, wor- 
shipped him. 

20 And when they had mocked ' him, they took off 
the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, 
and led him out to crucify him. 



T Matt. 26 : 69, etc. ; Luke 22 : 55, etc. ; John 18 : 16, etc w 2 Tim. 2 : 12, 13 x Acts 2:7 y 2 Cor. 7 : 10 iPs.!:S; Matt. 27 : 1, 

etc. ; Luke S3 : 1, etc. ; John 18 : 28, etc. j Acta 3 : 13; 4:26.. .alsa.53:7; John 19 : 9 b Matt. 27 : 15 ; Luke 23 : 17 ; John 18 : 39 

c Pr. 27 : 4 ; Eccl. 4:4; Acts 13 : 45 ; Tit. 3 : 3....d Acts 3 : 14. ...e Ps. 2:6; Jer. 23 : 5 ; Acts 5 : 31... f Isa. 53 : 9. ..g Matt. 
27 : 27 ; John 18 ; 28, 33; 19 ; 9....h ch. 14: 65 i ch. 10 : 34 ; Job 13 : 9 ; Ps. 35 ; 16 ; Matt. 20 ; 19 ; Luke 22 : 63 ; 23 : 11, 36. 



taken literally. It answers to our colloquial 
expression, "I do not know what you are talking 
about." — And the cock crew. See Matt. 20 : 
74. Only Mark mentions this crowing of the 
cock. — The maid saw hiin again. Not a 
maid, as in our version. Mark's language clearly 
implies that the same maid followed him to the 
door ; Matthew, that he was questioned by 
another maid ; and Luke, by a man. Each may 
be true ; evidently, suspicion of him was increas- 
ing and widening. — For moreover thou art 
a Galilean. The conjunction, moreover (xul), 
omitted in our English version, indicates that 
his Galilean origin was only an additional ground 
for the charge against him. — And thy speech 
agreeth thereto. These words are omitted by 
the best manuscripts, and by Laehmann, Tiseh- 
endorf, Tregelles, aDd Alford. — To curse and 
to swear. Matt. 26 : 74, note. — When he 
thought thereon. Much difficulty has been ex- 
perienced in rendering the Greek word (Inifialuiv), 
so translated. For a list of interpretations see 
Alford. Our English version is probably the 
best. "He thought thereon," is not synony- 
mous with "he called to mind." "That was 
the bare momentary remembrance, the word 
occurred to him ; this is the thinking, or, as we 
sometimes say, casting it over, going back step 
by step over the sad history." — {Alford.) Comp. 



Psalm 119:59; Lam. 3:40; Hag. 1:8.— He 
wept. The verb is in the imperfect tense, and 
signifies something more than a mere transient 
outburst of tears. He wept, and continued 
weeping. 

Ch. 15 : 1-20. The trial of Jesus before 
Pilate. Comp. Matt. 27 : 1, 2 ; 11-31 ; Luke 
23 : 1-25 ; John 18 : 28-40 ; 19 : 1-16. Mark's 
account differs but very slightly from Matthew's. 
See notes there, where the differences are noted. 
For consideration of Pilate's character, and the 
lessons to be drawn from his course, see notes 
on John. 

21-41. The crucifixion. Comp. Matt. 27 : 
32-56 ; Luke 23 : 26-49 ; John 19 : 17-30. Mark's 
account is almost exactly parallel to Mat- 
thew's. See notes there. The identification of 
Simon as the father of Alexander and Rufus is 
peculiar to Mark ; they are, perhaps, referred 
to in Rom. 16 : 13 and 1 Tim. 1 : 20, or Acts 19 : 
33. The wine mingled with myrrh, ver. 21, is the 
same as vinegar mingled with gall (Matt. 27 : 4, note). 
Mark alone mentions the hour of crucifixion, 
the third hour (ver. 25), that is, 9 a. m. For re- 
conciliation of this statement with John 19 : 14, 
see note there. The reference in ver. 28 to the 
O. T. prophecy is wanting in the best manu- 
scripts, and is omitted by Tischendorf and Alford ; 
the latter thinks it was borrowed from Luke 



Oh. XV.] 



MAEK. 



395 



21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who 
passed by, coming out of the country, the father of 
Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. 

22 And theyj bring him unto the place Golgotha, 
which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 

23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with 
myrrh : but he received it not. 

24 And when they had crucified him, they parted k 
his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man 
should take. 

25 And it was the third hour ; and they crucified him. 

26 And the superscription of his accusation was 
written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 

27 And with him they crucify two thieves ; the one 
on his right hand, and the other on his left. 

28 And the scripture 1 was fulfilled, which saith, And 
he was numbered with the transgressors. 

29 And they m that passed by railed on him, wag- 
ging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou" that destroy- 
est the temple, and buildest it in three days, 

30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross. 

31 Likewise also the chief priests, mocking, said 
among themselves with the scribes, He saved others ; 
himself he cannot save. 

32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from 
the cross, that we may see, and believe. And they 
that were crucified with him reviled him. 

33 And p when the sixth hour was come, there was 
darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 

34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud 
voice, saying, Eloi,i Eloi, lama sabachthani ? which is, 
being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me ? r 

35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard 
it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. 



36 And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, 
and put it on a reed, and gave 8 him to drink, saying, 
Let alone ; let us see whether Elias will come to take 
him down. 

37 And ' Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up 
the ghost. 

38 And the vail of the temple was rent in twain, from 
the top to the bottom. 

39 And when the centurion, which stood over against 
him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, 
he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. 

40 There were also women looking on afar" off; 
among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the 
mother of James the less, and of Joses, and Salome : 

41 (Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, 
and ministered v unto him ;) and many other women 
which came up with him unto Jerusalem. 

42 And now when the even was come, because it 
was the Preparation, that is, the day before the sab- 
bath, 

43 Joseph of Arimatheea, an honourable counsellor, 
which also waited " for the kingdom of God, came, and 
went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of 
Jesus. 

44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead : 
and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him 
whether he had been any while dead. 

45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave 
the body to Joseph. 

46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, 
and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepul- 
chre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone x 
unto the door of the sepulchre. 

47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of 
Joses beheld where he was laid. 



j Matt. 27:33, etc.; Luke 23 : 33, etc. ; John 19 : 17, etc k Ps. 22 : 18....1 Isa. 53 : 12... .m Ps. 22:7 n ch. 14 : 58 ; John 2 : 19 

Rom. 3:3; 2 Tim. 2 : 13 p Matt. 27 : 45 ; Luke 23 : 44 q Ps. 22 : 1 r Ps. 42 : 9 ; 71:11; Lam. 1 : 12 s Ps. 69 : 21. ...t Matt. 

27 : 50 ; Luke 23 : 46 ; John 19 : 30 u Ps. 38 : 11 v Luke 8 : 2, 3 w Luke 2: 25, 38 x ch. 16 : 3,4. 



22 : 37. The reference is to Isaiah 53 : 12. The 
language of mockery in ver. 32, " that we may see 
and believe," is peculiar to Mark. Observe that 
this is the customary demand of infidelity, which 
insists that faith shall rest always on sight. 
Mark's account of the response to Christ's cry 
(vers. 35, 36), Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, differs 
slightly from Matthew's. For a comparison of 
the four accounts, see notes on Matthew. Mark 
does not mention the earthquake and resurrec- 
tion, described by Matthew, and attributes the 
awe of the centurion to the sublimity of Christ's 
death, not, as Matthew, to the portents which 
accompanied it. It was probably produced by 
both. The words ".He so cried out,' 1 '' in yer. 39, are 
wanting in the Sinaitic and Vatican manuscripts, 
and are omitted by Tischendorf and Alford. 
Whether a part of the original text or not, they 
correctly explain it. " Salome," ver. 40, is the 
same as "the mother of Zebedee's children," 
Matt. 27 : 56. The addition of "many other 
women who came up with him unto Jerusalem," 
in ver. 41, is peculiar to Mark. 

42-47. The btjbiax op Jesus. Compare 
Matt. 27 : 57-61 ; Luke 23 : 50-56 ; John 19 : 
36^42. See John for notes on what is common 
to the four Evangelists. Nicodemus came with 
Joseph of Arimathea (John) ; the tomb belonged 
to Joseph (Matthew) ; and was in a garden near 
the place of crucifixion (John). Mark and Luke 



(23 : 53) describe the tomb. Only Mark narrates 
Pilate's surprise at learning of the death of Jesus 
(ver. 44). — The even was come. Here, evident- 
ly, the first of the two evenings recognized in 
Jewish reckoning, i. e., before sunset, because the 
Sabbath began on sunset (Lev. 23 : 32). — The 
preparation, that is, the fore-Sahbath; 
or, as we should say, in analogy with our Christ- 
mas-eve, Sabbath-eve. In the Syriac N. T. the 
word "preparation" is rendered "eve." It 
would appear that the close of Friday, perhaps 
from the ninth hour, 3 p.m., was at first called 
the "preparation," and that later the term ex- 
tended to the whole of Friday, as in German the 
usual name of Saturday is Sonnabend, i. e., 
"Sunday-eve." See John 19 : 31, note. That 
the bodies might not remain on the cross over 
the Sabbath, the Jews had asked to have death 
accelerated (John 19 : 31), and now Joseph asks per- 
mission to give the body honorable burial. — 
Joseph of Arimathea. On his character, see 
notes on John. — An honorable counsellor, 
i. e., a member of the Sanhedrim and occupying 
some station of honor or dignity. Luke adds 
the information respecting him, that he was a 
" good man and just," and had not consented to 
the condemnation pronounced against Christ by 
the Sanhedrim. — Which also waited for the 
kingdom of God. That is, he belonged to 
that portion of the Pharisees (Matt. 3 : 7, note) who 



396 



MARK. 



[Ch. XVI. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

AND when >' the sabbath was past, Mary Magda- 
lene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, 
had bought sweet spices, 2 that they might come and 
anoint him. 
2 And very early in the morning, the first day of the 



week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the 
sun. 

3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll 
us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ? 

4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was 
rolled away : for it was very great. 



y Matt. 28 : 1, etc. ; Luke 24 : 1, etc. ; John 20 : 1, etc. . . . z Luke 23 : 56. 



were in expectation of the coming of a Messiah 
to inaugurate the kingdom of God. Comp. Luke 
2 : 25. — Went in boldly. Of course this ended 
for him all position of honor in the Jewish court 
and nation (John 9 : 22). Moreover it identified him 
with a man crucified on a charge of sedition 
against the Roman government. Mr. Farrar notes 
a ease in history in which such a request cost 
the petitioner his life. — Pilate wondered if 
he were already dead. Because crucifixion 
is a lingering death, and rarely proves mortal 
in so short a space. Christ had not been on the 
cross more than six hours, probably not so long. 
Comp. ver. 25 with 34. See note on Physical 
Cause of Christ's Death, John 19 : 34, 35. — 
Whether he had been any while dead. 
Because he would make sure of his death. Ob- 
serve the incidental testimony that the resurrec- 
tion of Christ was no arousal from a syncope or 
fainting fit, as rationalistic criticism has some- 
times regarded it. — He gave the body. Often 
the privilege of burial was bought with a bribe 
by the friends of the deceased. Pilate, as a 
measure of relief to his conscience, gave the body 
to Joseph. 

Ch. 1G : 1-8. The resurrection of Jesus 
Christ. See note on Matt. 28 : 1-17. Parallel to 
the account here is Matt. 28 : 2-10 ; Luke 24 : 
1-11 ; comp. John 20 : 1-10. For a comparison of 
the different evangelical narratives of the resur- 
rection of our Lord, and for the evidence of the 
reality of that resurrection, see note on the Res- 
urrection of Jesus Christ, p. 330. For notes on 
what is common ' to Matthew and Mark, see 
notes on Matthew. Mark here, as elsewhere, 
furnishes some vivid details, which we should 
not otherwise possess. — When the Sabbath 
was past, Mary, etc., purchased aromat- 
ics. It is not very clear when they were pur- 
chased. The verb is in the aorist tense, not, as 
in our English version in the pluperfect. The 
indication here is, certainly, that this purchase 
was made on the Sabbath, after sunset ; the in- 
dication in Luke 23 : 55, 56, is that it was made 
on Friday night, after the burial. It may be, 
that the purchases were begun then, but not 
completed, the evening coming on quickly, and 
the shops being closed, so that the women had 
to postpone the completion till the Sabbath was 
past. — That they might come and anoint 
him. An indication that they had no expecta- 



tion of his resurrection. It was customary 
among the Jews, as a mark of honor to the de- 
ceased, after washing the corpse, to anoint it 
with certain perfumes, or to enclose them in the 
grave-clothes in which the body was wrapped. 
They were sometimes also burned as an incense. 
The hurried burial had not permitted this 
anointing to be completed ; it had been com- 
menced by Nicodemus at the time of the inter- 
ment (John in : 39, 40). Perhaps the women were 
ignorant of that ; perhaps they wished to add 
their own offerings. The aromatics employed 
for this purpose appear from John to have been 
aloes and myrrh. 

2-4. They came unto the sepulchre at 
the rising of the sun. Matthew says, "As it 
began to dawn " ; John, " When it was yet dark." 
This discrepancy is only verbal ; the language 
describes the same substantial time, and differs 
only as we should expect the language of inde- 
pendent writers would. At sunrise is in popular 
language equivalent to dawn (judges 9 : 33 ; Ps. 104 : 22). 
John's language is the most minutely accurate, 
and he is the one most likely to have been accu- 
rately informed. The women came probably 
before the sun was fairly up. — Who shall roll 
us away the stone? The language here ex- 




Diagram of Jewish Sepulchre. 

actly corresponds with the known structure of 
the Jewish tomb and door, one of those incidental 
evidences of the authenticity of our Gospels with 
which they abound. The form of the ordinary 
Jewish tomb will be best understood by the an- 
nexed plan. It consisted of a chamber or cham- 
bers, A, B, C, cut in the rock, from which openings 






Oh. XVI] 



MARK. 



397 



5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young 
man sitting on tiie right side, clothed in a long white 
garment ; and they were affrighted. 

6 And he saith unto them, be not affrighted : Ye seek 
Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified : he is risen ; B 
he is not here : behold the place where they laid him. 

7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that 
he goeth before you into Galilee : there shall ye see 
him, as he said unto you. 

8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sep- 
ulchre ; for they trembled and were amazed : neither 
said they any thing to any man ; for they were afraid. 

9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of 
the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of 
whom he had cast seven devils. 



io A nd she went and told them that had been with 
him, as they mourned and wept. 

ii And they, when they had heard that he was alive, 
and had been seen of her, believed not. 

12 After that he appeared in another form unto two b 
of them, as they walked, and went into the country. 

13 And they went and told it unto the residue ; nei- 
ther believed they them. 

14 Afterward he c appeared unto the eleven as they 
sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief d and 
hardness of heart, because they believed not them 
which had seen him after he had risen. 

15 And he said unto them, Go e ye into all the world, 
and preach the gospel to every creature/ 



a Ps. 71 : 20. . . b Luke 24 : 13. . . c Luke 24 : 36 ; 1 Cor. 15 : 6. . . d Luke 24 . 25. . . e Matt. 28 : 19 ; John 20 : 21. . . f Rom. 10 : IS ; Col. 1 : 



branched out, about two feet wide and three 
feet high. These, called loculi, held the bodies 
of the dead. Sometimes, but probably only at 
a later period, they were found as indicated in B. 
The interior of such a tomb is represented in 
a cut illustrating the resurrection of Lazarus, 




PLAJJ OF TOMB BOOB OR GOLAL. 

and accompanying John, ch. 11. Sometimes, 
doubtless, the tomb consisted simply of the 
cave or larger chamber, without the accompany- 
ing loculi. The door of the cave consisted, at 
least in some cases, of a circular stone, like 
a mill-stone, which could be rolled across the 




DOOK OF TOME. 



doorway, closing the aperture, or rolled back 
into a niche, cut in the adjoining rock to receive 
it, so as to leave the doorway open. The accom- 
panying plan and picture illustrates the method. 
The picture is from the tombs of the kings, still 
existing in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. The 
opening of such tombs is generally low, so that 
on entering them it is necessary to stoop (Luke 
24: 12; John 20: 5, n). In the case of Jesus, the 
anointing had not been completed, and if there 
were loculi, the body could hardly have been laid 
away in one of them, for Mary Magdalene, with- 
out entering the sepulchre, saw two angels sitting, 
one at the head, and the other at the foot, where 
the body of Jesus had lain (John 20 : 12), which 
they could not have done, in the loculus. 
The facts, then, would appear to be that the 
women, coming to the sepulchre early in the 
morning to complete the anointing, feared that 
they could not roll back into its niche the golal 
or circular stone, the groove into the niche gen- 
erally inclining upwards, so that it required 
considerable exertion of strength to roll back the 
door ; that when they came they found it already 
rolled back, and entering in they saw the 
young man (ver. 5), the angel of Matthew (ch. 28 : 2). 
Whether he was sitting in a partially reclining 
attitude on the door when they entered, and was 
not disclosed to them till after they entered, or 
whether Matthew's statement of his sitting on 
the stone is merely indicative of his previous 
posture, as a symbolic act of victory over the 
grave, is a matter of conjecture merely. — And 
when they looked, etc. These words are 
correctly placed in our English version in a 
parenthesis. The narrator breaks in upon his 
narrative to set in contrast with their anxiety 
the unexpected and supernatural removal of the 
stone. The moral has often and fairly been 
drawn, that when Christian love undertakes a 
difficult duty, God will remove the obstacles 
which are too great for its own strength. 

5-8. A young man. That there were two 
is evident from John 20 : 12 ; that they were 
angels, appears from Matt. 28 : 2 ; see note there. 
—Clothed in a long white garment. Liter- 



398 



MAEK. 



[Oh. XVI. 



16 He 5 that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved ; 
but he h that believeth not, shall be damned. 

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe : In 
my ' name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak J 
with new tongues ; 

18 They shall take up serpents ; k and if they drink 
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they 1 shall 
lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. 



19 So then m after the Lord had spoken unto them, 
he was received up into heaven, and sat " on the right 
hand of God. 

20 And they went forth and preached every where, 
the Lord working with t/iem,and confirming the word 
with signs following. Amen. 



B John 3 : 18, 36; Acts 16 : 31-33 ; Rom. 10 : 9 ; 1 Pet. 3 : 81. . . .h John 12 : 48 ; 2 Thess. 2 : 12. . . .i Luke 10 : 1 

19 : 1» .j Acts-.' : 4; 10 . 46; 1 Cor. 12 : 10, 28 k Luke 10 : 19 ; Acts 28 : 5.... 1 Acta 5 : 15, 16 ; 28:8 

1 : 2, 3; Luke 24 : 51 n Ps. 110 : 1 ; 1 Pet. 3 : 22 ; Rev. 3 : 21 Acts 5 : 12 ; 14 : 3 ; Heb. 2 : 4. 



; Acts 5 : 16; 8:7; 16 : 18' 
James 5 : 14, 15 m Acts 



ally, a stole (Gr. nroAi)). See ch. 12 : 38-40, note. 
— Be not affrighted. The angel's reassuring 
response to the women, who started back at the 
unexpected apparition. — And Peter. Observe 
that as Christ's first appearance is to Mary 
Magdalene (John 20 : is), out of whom he had cast 
seven devils, so his special message is to Peter 
who had denied him. " Tell Peter, for it will be 
news more welcome to him than to any of them, 
for he is in sorrow for sin ; and he will be afraid 
lest the joy of this good news do not belong to 
him." — (JMatthew Henry.) — They trembled and 
were afraid. Rather, Were in an ecstasy or 
in a maze; a commingled feeling of fear, awe, 
hope, and strange expectation is indicated by 
the language here and in Matthew. — Neither 
said they anything to any man. That is, 
on their way to tell the disciples. See Matt. 
28 : 8, note. 

Ch. 16 : 9-20. APPEARANCES OF JESDS AFTER HIS 
RESURRECTION. — COMMISSION TO THE ELEVEN- 
ASCENSION. — Christ's first appearance is to the 
woman to whom he has shown the greatest mercy 
(9). — The mistake op mourning : it weeps at the 
grave of the risen (10, 11). — the reproach of 
Christ's church: its slowness to believe (14).— 
The commission of Christ to his church : its field 
is the world ; its work is to preach the gospel ; 
its congregation embraces EVERT CREATtrRE ; ITS 
OFFER IS A FREE AND FULL SALVATION ; THE CON- 
DITION OF SALVATION IS FAITH IN CHRIST AND CON- 
FESSION OF AND CONSECRATION TO HIM : THE CONSE- 
QUENCE OF REJECTING CHRIST'S PROFFERED SALVATION 
IS ETERNAL CONDEMNATION. 

The question whether this passage properly 
belongs to Mark's Gospel or is an addition by a 
later hand, is one of the most difficult in Biblical 
criticism. I shall here state briefly the reasons 
for and against its authenticity, and then my own 
conclusion. I. External considerations. It is 
found in the Alexandrine, Ephraem and Cam- 
bridge Manuscripts (See Intro., pp. 23, 24), and in the 
Vulgate, Ethiopic, Curetonian Syriac, Peshito, 
Jerusalem Syriac, Memphitic and Gothic Ver- 
sions. It is wanting in the two oldest and most 
valued manuscripts, the Vatican and Sinaitic. If 
not a part of the original Gospel, it must have 
been added at a very early date, probably during 
the first century. II. Internal considerations. 
Verse 8 ends so abruptly as to forbid the idea 
that this was the close of the original Gospel. 



The last word in the Greek is a connective par- 
ticle. "For they were afraid' 1 '' is literally, They 
were afraid for (ttpopovvto ydy). If Mark's Gospel 
really ends here, it must be either because he 
was suddenly interrupted, or because his original 
close has been lost. On the other hand, the lan- 
guage in the Greek of the last eleven verses is 
unlike the rest of Mark's Gospel. " No less than 
twenty-one words and expressions occur in it 
(and some of them several times) which are 
never elsewhere used by Mark, whose adherence 
to his own peculiar phrases is remarkable." — 
(Alford.) To which add that the summing up of 
verses 19, 20, is unlike Mark, who is pictorial 
but unsystematic, and that the language of verses 
15-18, compared with Matthew's account of the 
same commission to the eleven (ch. 28 : is-20), indi- 
cates a less accurate and authentic report of this 
legacy of our Lord to his church. See notes 
below. III. Opinions of scholars. The genu- 
ineness of this passage is affirmed by Mill, 01- 
shausen, Eward, Lachmann, and Schaff ; it is 
doubted or denied by Griesbach, Ewald, Meyer, 
Tischendorf, Tregelles, Lightfoot, and Norton. 
For an elaborate discussion of these and other 
conflicting testimonies, see James Morison's Com- 
mentary on Mark ; he concludes that the passage 
is genuine. The weight of authority internal and 
external, appears to me to point to the other 
conclusion, viz., that Mark's Gospel either was 
abruptly broken off by some accident, or its close 
was early lost, and that verses 9-20 were append- 
ed at a very early day, probably during the first 
century, to give completion to the book. The 
question is one of secondary importance, since 
all that is essential in spirit and substance in this 
passage is to be found elsewhere in the Gospels, 
in accounts whose anthenticity is undoubted. 

9-11. The details of this appearance are given 
in John 20 : 11-18. See notes there. On the 
character of Mary Magdalene, see Matthew 27 : 
56, note. Of the fact here stated, that Christ 
cast seven devils out of her, we have no informa- 
tion except the statement here and in Luke 8 : 2. 

12, 13. This is a brief recapitulation of an in- 
cident recorded more fully in Luke 24 : 13-35. 
See notes there. 

14. This appearance is more fully described in 
Luke 24 : 36-49, and John 20 : 19-23. See notes 
there. 



Oh. XVI.] 



MARK. 



399 



15-18. This commission is repeated more 
briefly, but I believe more accurately, by Matt. 
28 : 18-20. See notes there. At least it appears to 
me that they are identical, though all commen- 
tators do not so regard them. Matthew indicates 
that it was given in Galilee. Mark connects with 
it the ascension, which took place from the 
Mount of Olives (Acts i : 12). But neither asserts 
definitely the location. This can hardly be the 
same interview reported by Luke (24 : 45-49). That 
our Lord should have prepared the eleven for 
the last commission, by previous instruction, is 
what we might reasonably expect. — Into all 
the world. Comp. Matt. 13 : 38. — Herald 
the glad tidings. This was the first commis- 
sion of the apostles (Matt. 10 : 7) ; they were now to 
be more than mere heralds of a coming Gospel — 
they were to be instructors of the people in the 
principles of a Gospel which by his death Christ 
had finished, which was no more coming but had 
come (comp. Matt. 28 : 19, note). It appears to me that 
the author of this passage has failed to recognize 
this change in the apostle's work, which Mat- 
thew's report clearly indicates. This variation 
between Mark and Matthew, is one of the indi- 
cations that we have not here an authentic 
report of the original commission, but a sum- 
mary made up by a later hand. — To all the 
creation. This is equivalent to " all nations " in 
Matthew. ' ' True, ' ' as Alf ord says, " all creation 
is redeemed by Christ (col. 1 : 15-23 ; Rom, 8 : 19-23) ; 
but the Gospel can be preached only to man. — 
He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved. Believeth, i. e., has faith in and trusts 
himself to Christ as preached in the Gospel ; and 
is baptized, publicly acknowledges that faith, and 
is consecrated to and enters upon a new life in 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (john 3 : 5, 6 ; 
Matt. 28 : 19, note) ; shall besaved, from both the present 
dominion and the future penalty of sin (Matt, 1 : 21 ; 
Rom.8:2). — But he that believeth not shall 
be condemned. Not he that is in doubt or 
perplexity, as the disciples in vers. 11, 13, but he 
that refuses to open his heart to the influence of 
a living and present Saviour. The declaration 
here is parallel to and interpreted by John 3 : 
18, 19 ; comp. John 15 : 22 ; Heb. 2 : 3. Observe, 
then, that not every belief saves (James 2 : 19), nor 
does every unbelief bring into condemnation (John 
20 : 25-27). Observe, too, that by implication bap- 
tism is not essential to salvation as faith is. One 
may be baptized and yet not believe, as Simon 
, (Acts 8 : 13 ; is : 23), or believe and not be baptized, as 
the penitent thief (Luke 23 : 43). — In my name 
shall they cast out devils. For fulfillment 
of this promise, see Acts 5 : 16 ; 8:7; 16 : 18. — 
They shall speak with new tongues. See 



Acts 2 : 4 ; 1 Cor. 14 : 22, and notes at these places. 
—They shall take up serpents. See Acts 
28 : 3-5. — If they drink, etc. Scripture af- 
fords no illustration of the fulfillment of this 
promise. But we may presume that of the mira- 
cles wrought after Christ's resurrection, as of 
those wrought by him in the body, many were 
not recorded (joim 20 : so). — They shall lay 
hands on the sick, etc. Comp. James 5 : 
14, 15. With this whole promise compare that 
of Matt. 10 : 1-8 and Luke 10 : 19, from which 
the unknown author of this passage may have 
derived it. Though the miracle-working power 
remained in the church after the ascension of our 
Lord, Christianity was made less dependent on 
such external signs and tokens, and more and 
more on the moral and spiritual power of the 
word itself. Comp. 1 Cor. 2 : 4 ; 1 Thess. 1 : 5. 
With this promise compare the still more general 
one of Psalm 91. On its applicability to our 
own time, Alford says : " This promise is gener- 
ally without limitation to the first ages of the 
church. Should occasion arise for its fulfillment 
there can be no doubt that it will be made good 
in our own or any other time. But we must re- 
member that signs are not needed where Chris- 
tianity is professed, nor by missionaries who are 
backed by the influence of the powerful Christian 
nations." This seems to me to be true, but only 
a superficial truth. Such signs as are indicated 
here are not needed in this age, when the divine 
nature of Christianity is witnessed by such his- 
torical evidences as are afforded by the moral, 
the religious, the social, the political, and even 
the commercial development which has every- 
where attended on and resulted from its progress. 
I can hardly conceive that occasion ever can arise 
for the further fulfillment of this promise. 
Christianity is itself a greater sign than any the 
apostles wrought. 

19, 20. Verse 19 epitomizes the fuller account 
afforded by Luke 24 : 50-53, and Acts 1 : 9-12. 
It is not necesarily implied that the ascension 
followed immediately after this commission. 
Rather, the language throughout is that of a 
compend or summary of events more fully 
recorded elsewhere, as known throughout the 
church by means of tradition. Ver. 20 indicates 
in a sentence the work wrought out in subse- 
quent years, and detailed in part in the Book of 
Acts. — Amen. This word is not found in the 
best manuscripts, but is the fitting response of 
the church to the command and promise of its 
Lord. The scribe who added it, did but give 
voice to what should be the universal though 
unuttered reception accorded to it by Christ's 
church throughout all ages. Comp. Rev. 22 : 20. 



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